DALLAS (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will host his first campaign rally Monday night in an unfamiliar environment since he announced his run for the U.S. Senate 10 months ago.
Paxton’s scheduled appearance is part of his stepped-up campaign to oust four-term Republican Sen. John Cornyn and add a Make America Great Again (MAGA) champion to the Senate, setting the stage for one of the most contentious Republican primaries of the year.
Until Monday, Paxton had launched a smaller campaign, spending relatively little money and drawing attention primarily by pursuing conservative causes as state attorney general. But with early voting set to begin Tuesday for the March 3 primary, Paxton plans to make stops across Texas this week. He also began running ads linking him to President Donald Trump as he took on Cornyn and Rep. Wesley Hunter.
Paxton entered the Republican primary as the party front-runner despite being the target of millions of dollars in attack ads from Cornyn and his allies and opposition from Senate Republican leaders who said Cornyn was the stronger candidate in the general election.
“I want them to stop sending money from Washington, D.C.,” Paxton told “Fox News Sunday.” “They’re sending money from Washington, D.C., to help John Cornyn. It’s going to… cost a lot of money, and he’s going to fail.”
Paxton’s political survival seems to defy convention, much like Trump’s. Paxton, who defeated impeachment in 2023 on fraud charges, is now overshadowed by accusations of marital infidelity from his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.
The three-term attorney general is betting that his disdain for his party’s leaders and aggressive litigation against conservative priorities will help him overcome ethical and personal problems that, at least so far, voters in the Republican-leaning state have forgiven.
Campaigning ramps up as early voting begins
Paxton will kick off a four-day series of rallies on Monday hosted by the Lone Star Liberty PAC, a super PAC backing him, to remind people that early voting in Texas begins on Tuesday.
His previous campaigns have been low-key events, including county Republican gatherings with other candidates. Last fall, he traveled to five Texas college campuses to speak to Turning Point USA chapters after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the national founder of the conservative Christian organization.
But until this week, Paxton’s public campaigning was essentially that, aside from a few podcasts with friendly hosts.
As of Friday, Paxton had spent $674,000 on his only television ad in Texas, according to ad-tracking service AdImpact.
The ad attacks Hunter, a two-term House member from the Houston area, not Cornyn. Like Paxton, Hunter is trying to appeal to primary voters looking for an alternative to Cornyn. By criticizing Hunter, Paxton’s allies are trying to wean away some of his voters in hopes of winning 50% of the primary vote – the threshold needed to win the Republican nomination outright. If no candidate receives 50%, the top two candidates will advance to a runoff on May 26.
Paxton’s campaign began airing an ad on Friday that included a video clip of Trump praising Paxton and a photo of them together. As of Monday, Trump had not endorsed any of the three Republicans in the race.
Paxton’s office promotes conservative goals
Paxton relies on his office in Austin to remain at the center of conservative efforts.
Last year, he sued Texas doctors, accusing them of violating the state’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, confirming a key priority for social conservatives fighting what they call gender ideology.
In October, just weeks after Trump repeatedly implored pregnant women to “don’t take Tylenol,” Paxton sued the company behind the painkiller, accusing them of deceptive marketing specifically targeting pregnant women and claiming unsubstantiated claims that early exposure to its active ingredient increases the risk of autism.
Most notably, Paxton led multiple legal challenges against the former Joe Biden administration on immigration and border policies, often successfully and bolstering his credibility as a conservative crusader. Paxton, who was first elected attorney general in 2014, also frequently sued the Barack Obama administration during the last two years of both Democratic administrations.
“I think Ken Paxton is a fighter,” said U.S. Rep. Troy Niles of Texas. Niles said Paxton prosecuted then-President Joe Biden more than any other U.S. attorney general.
Cornyn and allies spent more than $50 million
The steady stream of lawsuits has made Paxton headlines in Texas as Cornyn and his allies spend heavily to try to damage his image among Republican primary voters.
As of Friday, Cornyn’s campaign and the coalition’s super PAC had spent more than $54 million on television ads since last year, according to AdImpact. A large part of it was reminding voters of Paxton’s impeachment and his wife’s “biblical basis” for divorce, alleging extramarital affairs. The groups spent millions of dollars on digital ads, text messages and direct mail while also attacking Paxton.
In one ad sponsored by Texans for the Conservative Majority, a narrator begins: “Ken Paxton is not only corrupt, he’s weird.”
Republican strategists not affiliated with any campaign said the spending and months of warnings did not seriously hurt Paxton, who expressed confidence. In Texas’ storied political history, no senator has served more than four terms. Paxton believes he is better known than nearly every statewide elected Republican in Texas, including Cornyn.
Paxton said in a December podcast hosted by Tony Buzbee, the attorney who represented the attorney general during the impeachment trial, that the “only identified people” in the state are Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who are seeking re-election, as well as Sen. Ted Cruz.
Senate Republican leaders are worried
Republican Senate leaders in Washington have been sounding the alarm about Paxton for months. They say Paxton will need billions more in defense funding than Cornyn as the Republican nominee in the general election given the expected attacks. They said the party should not spend the money in Texas, where Trump carried Trump by more than 13 points.
Democrats must gain a total of four seats in November to surpass the Republican majority in the Senate. The minority party has renewed confidence in competing for Republican seats in Alaska, Maine, North Carolina and Ohio.
In Texas, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are seeking the Democratic nomination. An early February memo obtained by The Associated Press said Paxton would do worse than Cornyn in the November election, regardless of whether the opponent was a Democrat or a strategist for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
“Coryn won the election,” the memo said. “Paxton put his seat at risk.”
___
Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed in Washington.