In 2014, under the pall of fraud allegations, then-state Senator Ken Paxton hauled in just under 45 percent of the GOP primary vote as he secured first place against a pair of establishment-aligned opponents in his bid for Texas Attorney General.
The third-place finisher endorsed the runner-up in the runoff, citing concerns about Paxton’s emerging ethical challenges. “The Attorney General must have integrity, honesty, and high moral character,” Barry Smitherman said in his endorsement of state Representative Dan Branch.
But in a year of anti-establishment tea party fervor among the party’s base, Paxton’s pledge to continue then-Attorney General Greg Abbott’s legacy of using the office as a perch to sue President Barack Obama was enough to win. In the 2014 runoff, Paxton—buoyed by a $1 million loan from a new right-wing PAC called Empower Texans—trounced Branch by nearly 30 points.
