TEXAS \u2014 As Texas Republicans meet for their state convention in Houston to project unity after heated primaries, the former top Republican elected official in the state\u2019s biggest red county will take over local radio airwaves with one message: \u201cI won\u2019t vote for Ken Paxton.\u201d<\/p>\n
The one-minute ad<\/a> featuring former Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley will be blasted on conservative airwaves in Houston on Friday and Saturday during the GOP\u2019s state convention. The pro-James Talarico super PAC, Lone Star Rising, spent around $5,000 for an initial ad run during the convention but will continue to air the spot throughout the campaign season.<\/p>\n In the ad, Whitley \u2014 who continues to identify as a Republican \u2014 notes his 16-year tenure as the top county executive in \u201cthe largest red county in America.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI supported the rule of law and stood for faith and family. I still believe in those conservative values,\u201d Whitley says. \u201cKen Paxton has spent years embarrassing Texas. He\u2019s known for scandal, indictment, infidelity and putting his own interests ahead of Texans. That\u2019s exactly why I cannot support Ken Paxton.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Whitley adds that he\u2019s not alone, noting that 60 Republican members of the Texas House impeached Paxton in 2023 for abusing his office to benefit a donor, who helped Paxton\u2019s alleged mistress secure a job. Paxton was later acquitted by the Texas Senate.<\/p>\n \u201cThis November, I\u2019ll proudly support conservative candidates on the ballot,\u201d Whitley says in the ad. \u201cBut I won\u2019t vote for Ken Paxton.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The Republican adds: \u201cBeing a conservative is about character, integrity and accountability. If you still believe those values matter, don\u2019t vote for Ken Paxton.\u201d<\/p>\n Whitley, who is seen as a member of the more traditional, business-friendly wing of the GOP, has broken with his party in the past. In 2022, he supported Mike Collier, the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, over Republican Dan Patrick. Patrick won that election.<\/p>\n The ad comes as Paxton faces defections from Republicans and former supporters. This week, Dan Cogdell, who defended Paxton in his securities fraud case and in his impeachment trial, said he would support James Talarico in the U.S. Senate race. Cogdell also hosted the Democrat on his podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Ken has lost sight of his core mission, which is to represent the people of Texas,\u201d Cogdell said. \u201cAnd unlike Ken, I believe to my core, James, that you believe in unity over division and that you know how to assemble not only Democrats, but independents and Republicans \u2014 and we need that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, a Republican who supported Paxton\u2019s primary opponent Sen. John Cornyn, called Paxton \u201ccorrupt and immoral\u201d<\/a> and said she would not vote for him.<\/p>\n Top state party officials like Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows have all rallied around Paxton after his victory in the runoffs, calling for party unity and a need to focus on the November election.<\/p>\n But the ad is aimed at GOP voters wary of Paxton\u2019s past legal and ethical scandals, including the securities fraud case, impeachment and allegations of infidelity in his marriage. Paxton\u2019s wife, Republican state Sen. Angela Paxton, has filed for divorce citing \u201cBiblical grounds.\u201d<\/p>\n Talarico has tried to appeal to independent and Republican voters to win the November election in a state where a Democrat has not won a statewide race in 32 years. After Paxton\u2019s victory in the runoffs, Talarico appealed directly to Cornyn\u2019s supporters, thanking the senator for his \u201cyears representing our state\u201d and saying<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cYou have a place in our campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS \u2014 As Texas Republicans meet for their state convention in Houston to project unity after heated primaries,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6329,1657,1658,2160,132,6328,1570,102,56,62638,223,287,82,27,29,28,2053,835],"class_list":["post-336671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-app-capital-tonight","tag-app-latest-local-state-politics-stories","tag-app-local-state-politics","tag-app-top-stories","tag-austin","tag-capital-tonight","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-houston","tag-james-barragan","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}