Ken Paxton Won His Senate Primary And His (Estranged) Wife Couldn’t Be Bothered To Endorse Him

On Tuesday, as Texans headed to the polls to vote in the Republican Senate primary runoff, state Senator Angela Paxton — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s estranged wife, the woman currently divorcing him on “biblical grounds“– put out an endorsement list. She endorsed a candidate for attorney general, a railroad commissioner, a Court of Criminal Appeals seat. What she conspicuously, pointedly, loudly did not do was mention the Senate race featuring her husband of 38 years.

Now Paxton went on to beat the incumbent John Cornyn by 28 points anyway, but Angela’s silence is still pretty damning.

For anyone who needs a refresher on what Susan Collins means when she called Paxton “ethically challenged“: Paxton was indicted on felony securities fraud charges that he eventually resolved by paying $300,000 in restitution and completing community service. He was forced to apologize and pay $3.3 million in taxpayer money to former aides who accused him of corruption and were fired for their trouble. He was then impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House on 20 articles including bribery, obstruction, and abuse of public trust — and acquitted by the Republican-controlled Texas Senate. Oh, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee went to town attacking Paxton including posts calling him “Crooked Ken,” accusing him of giving a child sex trafficker the “kid-gloves treatment,” and one calling his conduct toward his wife “truly repulsive and disgusting.” (Since Paxton’s win, the NRSC deleted at least two dozen press releases, digital ads, and statements that went after Paxton.)

But back to the whole “biblical grounds” of it all. Angela Paxton’s divorce petition, filed in Collin County, listed adultery as the reason for the divorce. Ken, characteristically, put out a statement framing the split as a mutual decision driven by “the pressures of countless political attacks and public scrutiny,” which is certainly one way to describe it. Infidelity allegations have followed Paxton around for years. During his 2023 impeachment trial, his former chief of staff testified that Paxton had confessed to an extramarital affair back in 2018. His own lawyers, in one of the more memorable moments of that proceeding, responded to the bribery article, which alleged Paxton benefited from a donor employing his alleged mistress, by arguing,”Imagine if we impeached everybody here in Austin that had had an affair. We’d be impeaching for the next 100 years.”

And here’s the cherry on top: the Paxton divorce hearing is currently scheduled for June 24 in Collin County — smack in the middle of campaign season — unless the two reach some kind of agreement before then. But just think of the possibilities! A sitting state senator, estranged from her Senate-candidate husband, potentially airing the details of a scandal-plagued marriage while he’s trying to win over himself to general-election voters? That feels too good for Dems to be true.

On Tuesday, as Texans headed to the polls to vote in the Republican Senate primary runoff, state Senator Angela Paxton — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s estranged wife, the woman currently divorcing him on “biblical grounds“– put out an endorsement list. She endorsed a candidate for attorney general, a railroad commissioner, a Court of Criminal Appeals seat. What she conspicuously, pointedly, loudly did not do was mention the Senate race featuring her husband of 38 years.

Now Paxton went on to beat the incumbent John Cornyn by 28 points anyway, but Angela’s silence is still pretty damning.

For anyone who needs a refresher on what Susan Collins means when she called Paxton “ethically challenged“: Paxton was indicted on felony securities fraud charges that he eventually resolved by paying $300,000 in restitution and completing community service. He was forced to apologize and pay $3.3 million in taxpayer money to former aides who accused him of corruption and were fired for their trouble. He was then impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House on 20 articles including bribery, obstruction, and abuse of public trust — and acquitted by the Republican-controlled Texas Senate. Oh, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee went to town attacking Paxton including posts calling him “Crooked Ken,” accusing him of giving a child sex trafficker the “kid-gloves treatment,” and one calling his conduct toward his wife “truly repulsive and disgusting.” (Since Paxton’s win, the NRSC deleted at least two dozen press releases, digital ads, and statements that went after Paxton.)

But back to the whole “biblical grounds” of it all. Angela Paxton’s divorce petition, filed in Collin County, listed adultery as the reason for the divorce. Ken, characteristically, put out a statement framing the split as a mutual decision driven by “the pressures of countless political attacks and public scrutiny,” which is certainly one way to describe it. Infidelity allegations have followed Paxton around for years. During his 2023 impeachment trial, his former chief of staff testified that Paxton had confessed to an extramarital affair back in 2018. His own lawyers, in one of the more memorable moments of that proceeding, responded to the bribery article, which alleged Paxton benefited from a donor employing his alleged mistress, by arguing,”Imagine if we impeached everybody here in Austin that had had an affair. We’d be impeaching for the next 100 years.”

And here’s the cherry on top: the Paxton divorce hearing is currently scheduled for June 24 in Collin County — smack in the middle of campaign season — unless the two reach some kind of agreement before then. But just think of the possibilities! A sitting state senator, estranged from her Senate-candidate husband, potentially airing the details of a scandal-plagued marriage while he’s trying to win over himself to general-election voters? That feels too good for Dems to be true.