AUSTIN, Texas — Ken Paxton settled in across from two Austin police officers and asked them not to turn on their recorder. The attorney general didn’t want the public to hear what he was about to say.
Over the next hour, Paxton fretted that a campaign donor was threatening to kill him. That this person had tried to hack his car’s GPS system. That Google, which he had sued that day, may track him through his phone.
Paxton insisted he wasn’t imagining the danger.
“I don’t need them tracking me and knowing what I’m doing,” Paxton said about the tech giant in the interview, which he eventually agreed to be recorded, at the special investigations unit of the Austin Police Department. “It sounds paranoid, but I can’t let them — the less they know about me the better.”
During a wide-ranging interview in October 2020, Paxton said he never before felt this at risk. For the first time in his 20-year political career, he said he had asked his detail for round-the-clock security. Paxton’s recorded remarks, which The Dallas Morning News obtained from the Austin police through a public records request, provide rare insight into the attorney general’s mindset.
For Paxton, everything happening seemed connected.
“Could it all be a coincidence? Sure. But do I think it is? No,” Paxton said in the recording.
His closest aides had just accused him of serious crimes, prompting some fellow Republicans to question his fitness for office and the FBI to get involved.
Today, the cloud of legal troubles over Paxton hasn’t lifted. After nearly eight years of being buffeted by personal scandals and criminal charges, he says he is the target of powerful enemies who want to bring down one of the most prominent conservative attorneys general in the country. But instead of backing away from the limelight, he has doubled down on politically charged lawsuits that rally his core supporters and loudly punched back at his foes.
Paxton, 59, is banking that this approach will propel him to a third term. He is delivering a series of attack ads and has built a hefty cash advantage over his opponent, Democrat Rochelle Garza, 37. The most recent polling shows Paxton with a double-digit lead over Garza, a civil rights attorney from South Texas. She has zeroed in on Paxton’s criminal charges, including a new ad that says he is “under a cloud of corruption.”
Paxton did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. This reporting is based on public records, news clips, court files, Paxton’s public statements and interviews with friends and colleagues. His campaign declined to respond to questions, and instead accused The News of focusing on negative press.
“The Dallas Morning News’s focus isn’t on reporting the facts — it’s just targeting conservatives like AG Paxton who are fighting to defend the Constitution in a desperate effort to influence the upcoming election in the final 18 days before the polls close,” Kimberly Hubbard, a campaign spokesperson, said in a written statement Thursday.
Early voting started Monday.
Paxton’s rise
Now a household name in the conservative movement, it took Paxton years to find his political niche.
The son of a U.S. Navy pilot, Warren Kenneth “Ken” Paxton Jr. had an itinerant childhood as the family shuttled between multiple states before they settled in southwest Oklahoma. There, Paxton helped take the high school tennis team to a winning season despite a childhood injury which resulted in near blindness in his right eye, according to a 2016 profile in the Houston Chronicle. In a college basketball game, he shattered the bones on that side of his face, the Chronicle story added.
The injuries left him with two different colored eyes and a slight facial droop.
A Dallas Cowboys fan from a young age, Paxton moved to Texas to study psychology and economics at Baylor University. It was here, at the conservative Baptist college, that he got his first major taste of political leadership when he was elected student body president on a platform of “unity,” according to the student newspaper.
Paxton met Angela Allen, a mathematical science major and member of the Delta Gamma sorority, at Baylor and married her the same year he received his MBA. After getting his law degree from the top-ranked University of Virginia in 1991, Paxton worked as in-house counsel for JCPenney before opening his own practice in McKinney focused on estate and business law.
Paxton was elected to the Texas House in 2002 to represent a new district that encompassed the fast-growing communities of Frisco, Allen and McKinney. He was part of a wave of GOP candidates who flipped the chamber for Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction.
From his earliest forays into state government, Paxton described himself as a “pro-family conservative.” He focused on kitchen-table issues like economic development, transportation and school funding. The bill he was most proud of, Paxton said in 2005, was one to require all “Welcome to Texas” signs to also say, “Proud Home of President George W. Bush.”
Not two decades later, during a contentious primary this year against the former president’s nephew, Paxton encouraged conservatives to help him “end the Bush dynasty” once and for all.
In 2010, Paxton challenged the Texas House speaker, a fellow Republican. Though he dropped the bid the morning of the vote, the move launched his ascent by marking him as a conservative unafraid of running to the right of fellow Republicans.
Two years later, he was elected to the Texas Senate without a primary opponent. After one session, Paxton ran for attorney general, questioning his GOP opponent’s conservative bonafides while playing up his tea party roots.
In a Paxton campaign ad from February 2014, the right’s favorite firebrand of the moment, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, praises him in a voiceover as Paxton confidently strides down the steps of the Collin County courthouse.
Paxton was sworn in as attorney general on Jan. 5, 2015. Less than a year later, he was back at that courthouse — this time as a defendant in a criminal case.
Seven years of scandals
In August 2015, Paxton was booked at the Collin County jail on fraud charges.
Entering and exiting the court complex through a side entrance, Paxton took his mugshot in private. He was allowed to forgo a white towel draped around his shoulders — the typical garb of someone indicted in Collin County on multiple felony charges — instead sporting a red tie and a grin.
Paxton found himself facing five to 99 years in prison. Among his chief accusers was a Republican state representative and former friend who says Paxton duped him into investing in a tech startup while keeping secret that he stood to benefit from the deal. Paxton was also charged with a third-degree felony for allegedly funneling clients to an investment adviser representative without being registered, for which he was reprimanded and paid a $1,000 civil fine in 2014.
He’s pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges.
The indictments kicked off years of scandals and allegations, unmatched in recent Texas history, that have done little to slow his political rise.
Among the scandals Paxton has weathered:
— Two federal civil fraud charges, also stemming from the tech startup case; both were tossed because the judge found Paxton didn’t break federal law.
— An investigation in 2016 into Paxton’s role in a Collin County land deal; special prosecutors took the case to a grand jury, which voted to take no action.
— Allegations that he misused emergency leave for agency staffers; state lawmakers later cracked down on the practice, revealed to be common across multiple agencies. Paxton and other agency heads were not disciplined.
— A 2017 bribery probe into a $100,000 gift Paxton received from the CEO of a company his agency had investigated for Medicaid fraud; a local prosecutor found Paxton did not break the law because he had a personal relationship with the donor.
— Revelations that he pocketed a fellow lawyer’s $1,000 Montblanc pen from a security tray in the county courthouse; Paxton returned the pen, calling it a mistake.
Each time, Paxton has responded the same way: deny, deflect, delay.
The fraud allegations were the outcome of a political witch hunt, he insisted in a YouTube video on the eve of his indictments. So were the federal fraud charges, Paxton argued. The bribery allegations, his spokesman said, were spurred by “media speculation and wishful thinking by political opponents.”
Then in fall 2020, several of Paxton’s top deputies told the FBI they believe he committed bribery and abuse of office in service of a campaign donor already under scrutiny by the bureau.
All eight deputies resigned or were fired; four are now suing under state whistleblowers laws. Their lawsuit alleges that in exchange for using the office to help Austin-based real estate developer Nate Paul, Paxton received a kitchen remodel and a job for a woman with whom the attorney general allegedly had an affair.
Paxton’s own agency, in response, produced an unsigned report saying he was clear of wrongdoing and accusing the whistleblowers of leaking confidential information and deleting records.
Paxton also went to the police. In his interview with the two Austin officers in October 2020, he accused a campaign donor of threatening to kill him if he didn’t stay away from Paul. The donor has denied the allegations. The police determined it was not a criminal matter and the district attorney’s office declined to prosecute, according to an Austin police report The News obtained through a public records request.
Paxton is still awaiting trial on the fraud indictments from 2015. His lawyers blamed the delays on two private attorneys appointed as special prosecutors.
“Justice delayed is Justice denied. Mr. Paxton was ready for trial several years ago,” Dan Cogdell and Philip Hilder told The News in a statement.
There are multiple reasons why the cases are now seven years old. His lawyers’ attempts, sometimes successful, to remove judges presiding over the cases have slowed the prosecution. Hurricane Harvey also delayed the proceedings, as have prolonged fights over where to try Paxton and how much to pay the prosecutors.
Brian Wice, one of the prosecutors handling the case, declined to comment for this story.
‘Whatever the consequences’
While some of the state’s most powerful Republicans have expressed concern about Paxton’s troubles, most have been reluctant to call him out. Recent polling shows the majority of GOP voters approve of his job performance.
Bill Miller, an Austin lobbyist and longtime friend of Paxton’s, said controversy is no longer the third rail it used to be in politics. Knowing this, Paxton leans into the issues he believes his base will respond to.
“He’s not a guy who goes around with a lot of self doubt,” Miller said. “It gives him the feeling that he can take on whatever he chooses to and will live with whatever the consequences.”
“Controversy is dogging him but it hasn’t prevented him from succeeding,” he added.
Paxton was reelected in 2018 and also helped his wife, Angela, win a seat in the Texas Senate.
Mark Yablon, a Houston lawyer and friend from Baylor, said Paxton is the same person he was in college: “earnest, friendly, easy to talk to.” He does not believe Paxton intentionally did anything illegal.
“He’s a straight shooter. I think he’s funny. He wants to do right. He’s done right. I’m sure he’s made some mistakes. At the same time, show me one person that hasn’t made any mistakes in their life,” Yablon told The News. “He’s a fighter and when you’re a fighter, there’s people that are just going to try to take you down.”
In a recent interview, Paxton stoked fears that powerful enemies — including the FBI and Justice Department — were targeting him and the freedoms of all Americans.
“There’s a legitimate reason to fear our own government at this point. They are turning into what we’ve read about in countries like Germany in the ‘30s and what’s going on in Russia or China now. I don’t see much difference,” Paxton told conservative podcast host Chris Salcedo two months ago. “I have the same fears of the FBI now that I would if I were in a country like that. So, I think people should be very wary. I think people should be asking questions.”
‘Lawfare’
Much of the day-to-day work at the attorney general’s office involves defending state agencies, protecting consumers and enforcing child support. Paxton has elevated his profile by using the agency as a cudgel in the culture wars and a tool to challenge Democrats’ policies in Washington.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Paxton declared an agency holiday. Earlier this year, he issued an opinion that paved the way for the state to initiate child abuse investigations into parents of transgender youth.
Paxton points to his dozens of lawsuits against the Obama and Biden administrations as proof of his success. He bragged about a win in federal appeals court this summer in his challenge against President Joe Biden’s mask mandates in schools. The appeals court this month handed him another victory in declaring unlawful the immigration program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.
“The Biden Administration’s attempts to radicalize federal law to track its woke political beliefs are beyond dangerous,” Paxton said this month in a press release marking a court win on LGBT policy. “I will continue to push back against these unlawful attempts to use federal agencies to normalize extremist positions that put millions of Texans at risk.”
Paxton and his top aides see themselves at war with the “forces that want to destroy the American order, root and branch,” Deputy Attorney General for Legal Strategy Aaron Reitz said in recorded remarks last fall.
“Here at the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the way that we fight that war is, our soldiers are lawyers and our weapons are lawsuits,” he said. “Our tactics is, ‘lawfare (sic).’”
The politically charged environment has turned off some agency lawyers. The departure of seasoned attorneys has caused turmoil, according to an investigation by The Associated Press, which found the office dropped human trafficking and child sexual assault cases when it lost track of a victim. The agency is asking the Legislature to fund a 12% raise for attorneys to help with retention, according to a recently filed appropriations request.
When asked about departures, Reitz told The News this month that change has been good.
“The staff turnover that was precipitated a couple of years ago has resulted in tremendous increases in performance, increases in revenue to the state, increases in wins for the state of Texas, increases in wins against those who want to, sort of, get rid of Texas liberty,” he said.
Election Day ahead
Paxton has insulated himself from outside critics.
He has avoided answering questions under oath, and was accused of fleeing his home in September so he wouldn’t be served a subpoena in a high-stakes abortion case. He has declined to debate his political challengers in the past, refused to detail how he pays for trips out-of-state — including one taken during the February 2021 winter storm — and seldom answers questions at public appearances.
But he’s a regular guest on conservative media shows.
His most high-profile campaign events this election cycle have been alongside Trump at private fundraisers held at the businessman’s clubs in New Jersey and Florida. His allegiance to the former president, who endorsed Paxton in his four-way GOP primary, has thrust him into the national spotlight.
Paxton asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn 2020 election results in four key battleground states that went for Biden. When that failed, he and his wife rallied Trump supporters Jan. 6, 2021, in the hours before hundreds stormed the U.S. Capitol.
A top aide received advice from MyPillow CEO and election denier Mike Lindell, and last spring the agency organized a staff showing of “2,000 Mules,” a debunked film that cast doubt on Trump’s loss, according to text and email exchanges The News obtained from Paxton’s office through public records requests filed in the last year.
Paxton now holds a 14-point lead over Garza, according to a poll the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin released Friday. He has raised half a million dollars more than her since July. Also in his favor: Democrats haven’t won a statewide office since 1994.
Garza, a former ACLU attorney, says she would prioritize consumer protection lawsuits, create a new civil rights division and withdraw from some of the office’s most contentious legal battles.
Mark Ash, a Houston criminal attorney, is running as a Libertarian.
Ahead of Election Day, Paxton appears to be planting seeds of doubt about the results. For months, he has been criticizing a recent court ruling — delivered by a panel of Republicans — that said his office can no longer unilaterally prosecute voter fraud. He insists, without offering evidence, that the decision is part of a plot years in the making to help Democrats win statewide office — and implied the results of the next election could be suspect.
“I’m concerned now for this election,” Paxton told Salcedo this month. “There’s nothing we can do, because apparently, only the local DAs can prosecute crimes, as it relates to election fraud, and so it’s a wide open field for them now. However, I’m hoping we survive this election.”
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