Ken Paxton impeachment: Updates on Texas’ embattled attorney general

Since it became clear the Texas House would move forward with impeachment proceedings, Ken Paxton’s supporters have suggested that state lawmakers were overturning the will of the voters. And a top aide in the attorney general’s office said Paxton can’t be impeached for acts that occurred before his latest reelection.

Paxton, who has been dogged with scandal for years, easily won reelection in November against Democratic civil rights lawyer Rochelle Garza.

It was not a foregone conclusion. Political observers considered Paxton the weakest of all GOP incumbents running for reelection in 2022.

“The reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated,” Paxton said in his victory speech from Collin County.

Surrounded that night by supporters, members of the attorney general’s office and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, Paxton said he would continue to fight the federal government’s “overreach” into state affairs. Paxton has been a leader in challenging policies implemented by Democratic presidents on immigration, expansion of LGBTQ rights and COVID-19 vaccine requirements.

“Just because we won tonight, the fight is not over,” he said. “They’re going to continue to come after me, they’re going to continue to come after Texas. They’re going to continue to come after Republicans around the country and we cannot let them win.”

— Nic Garcia