Ten months ago, impeached and suspended from office, things looked bleak for Attorney General Ken Paxton.
More than 70% of his fellow Republicans in the Texas House voted on his impeachment and he faced an array of career-threatening legal battles. But now, Paxton's political stock ascended this week when prosecutors agreed to drop the nine-year-old fraud charges if he fulfills the terms of a pretrial agreement. The agreement comes as a major vindication for Paxton after the Senate acquitted him of the House's impeachment charges last fall, further burnishing his reputation among the party's most conservative flank as a fighter who has defied political "persecution." With two major political and legal wins behind him, Paxton is now 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 chal lengers.
For a man who was once considered his party's most vulnerable statewide elected official, Paxton's newfound political clout comes as a shift in the narrative.
"Paxton is at his most powerful, no question about it. Voters like a winner and in his primary world, he's a winner," said former Galveston mayor Joe Jaworski, who lost the Democratic primary runoff to take on Paxton in 2022. "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." The historic impeachment case against Paxton, which prominently aired his affair with a former Senate staffer, turned out to be a political benefit as the rightmost part of the GOP rallied behind him. The impeachment then became a conservative litmus test in the primary election that pushed powerful and long-tenured members to defeat or contentious runoffs.
Despite his recent victories, some Paxton critics still argue that the unresolved whistleblower and state bar lawsuits keep Paxton from complete vindication.
