Ken Paxton

Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. (born December 23, 1962) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the attorney general of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Texas Senate representing the eighth district and as a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

Known for his conservative views, Paxton has been described as a staunch ally of President Donald Trump. Paxton was first elected attorney general in 2014, rising to power as an ally of the Tea Party movement, and has been described as ultraconservative and far-right. Paxton was re-elected in 2018 and 2022.

Throughout the course of the Joe Biden's presidency, Paxton pursued legal action against the administration nearly 50 times. After Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making claims of election fraud, Paxton aided Trump in his efforts to overturn the result. He filed the unsuccessful Texas v. Pennsylvania case in the U.S. Supreme Court and spoke at the rally Trump held on January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C., that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In 2015, Paxton was indicted on state securities fraud charges relating to activities before taking office; he has pleaded not guilty. On June 18, 2025, the case was ordered dismissed after completion of the terms of a pretrial agreement. In October 2020, several high-level assistants in Paxton's office accused him of "bribery, abuse of office and other crimes." In May 2023 Paxton was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives by a vote of 121–23, leading to his suspension. The articles of impeachment included allegations that Paxton gave preferential treatment to a political donor who bribed him, misapplied public resources and made false statements against whistleblowers, obstructed justice in the securities fraud trial against him, and made false statements regarding his financial interests. In September 2023, the Texas Senate voted 16–14 to acquit Paxton of all articles of impeachment, ending his suspension from office. Paxton is separately being investigated by federal prosecutors for the same legal issues on coinciding federal statutes.

On April 8, 2025, Paxton announced his candidacy for the United States Senate in the 2026 election, challenging incumbent senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary.