“Once the Texas GOP’s “weak link,” Attorney General Ken Paxton is growing more popular and powerful” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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Ten months ago, things looked bleak for Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The beleaguered Republican had just been impeached and suspended from office by more than 70% of his own party in the Texas House. He faced an array of career-threatening legal battles: a federal investigation into corruption allegations lodged by his former top deputies, a whistleblower lawsuit from those deputies who said they were illegally fired for reporting Paxton to law enforcement, a separate lawsuit from the state bar seeking to penalize Paxton for attorney misconduct, and of course, an indictment on three felony counts of securities fraud that have loomed over nearly his entire tenure as attorney general.
The outlook is now considerably brighter for Paxton, whose political stock continued its ascent this week when prosecutors agreed to drop the nine-year-old fraud charges if he fulfills the terms of a pretrial agreement. It was another major vindication for Paxton after the Senate acquitted him of the House’s impeachment charges last fall, bringing him one step closer to a political career devoid of legal drama and burnishing his reputation among the party’s most conservative flank as a fighter who has defied political “persecution.”
“The pundits, lobbyists and consultants have written his political obituary many times and yet they greatly underestimated General Paxton’s tenacity and grit,” said Nick Maddux, a Paxton adviser and political consultant, in an email.
Once seen as a political liability within his own party, Paxton now has the wind at his back. With two major political and legal wins behind him, he’s poised to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in 2026, a prospect he has openly entertained. The end of Paxton’s most persistent legal woe also provides another burst of momentum for the Texas GOP’s hardline wing as it looks to build on a March primary where a record number of House Republicans were unseated by Paxton-aligned firebrand challengers.
“Politically, General Paxton has many options in the future, but his focus right now is continuing to fight the Biden Administration and electing more conservative fighters to the Texas House who are committed to fundamentally transforming the way the State House does business,” Maddux said.
Paxton’s political fortunes had already seen a decided rebound before his fraud case fizzled. Statewide polling from the Texas Politics Project found last month that 61% of Republican voters approved of the job Paxton is doing as attorney general, while just 16% disapproved. That marked a swing of 22 points from last August, when Paxton was in the throes of his impeachment fight.
Joe Jaworski, the former Galveston mayor who lost the Democratic primary runoff to take on Paxton in 2022, said the outcome is “absolutely a victory” for Paxton, who he said is undoubtedly “the most powerful Republican politician statewide” based on the influence he wields among the “extremist” voters who turn out in GOP primaries.
“Paxton is at his most powerful, no question about it. Voters like a winner and in his primary world, he’s a winner,” said Jaworski, who is considering another run for attorney general in 2026. “But the language he’s using, the language his supporters are using, his priorities, are extreme. They represent the world of politics, getting in power and retaining power, not improving people’s lives.”
That assessment of Paxton’s political clout is newfound territory for a man who was once considered his party’s most vulnerable statewide…
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