Democrats made little effort to hide the fact that in Texas’ Senate race, they much preferred to run against Ken Paxton, the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general, than incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. They got their wish: In Tuesday’s primary, Paxton, who was bolstered by a late endorsement from Donald Trump, crushed Cornyn in their GOP primary by roughly 28 points.

The landslide results set the stage for one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races, in a red state that Republican officials, who spent tens of millions of dollars trying to defeat Paxton, hoped to take for granted.

Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, who’ll face the state attorney general in the fall, responded to the GOP primary by describing Paxton as “the most corrupt politician in America.”

Soon after, the Democrat’s campaign unveiled its first post-primary ad, highlighting just how many devastating scandals Paxton has been embroiled in during his tenure in statewide office.

What’s more, it’s not just Democrats who’ve noticed. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Paxton “could reasonably be indicted for a felony.” Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine described Paxton as “an ethically challenged individual.” Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina added, “To call Paxton ethically challenged is to call Jeffrey Dahmer suffering from an eating disorder.”

To help drive the point home, consider this list published last summer:

• Angela Paxton’s divorce petition accuses Paxton of adultery and says the couple stopped living together in June 2024, according to new reports.
• Paxton’s former chief of staff testified that he confessed to her and other staff members he was having an affair with his mistress, Laura Olson.
• Impeachment articles in the Texas legislature alleged Ken Paxton used the alias “Dave P” for a fake Uber account that he used to secretly see his mistress.
• Paxton was also accused of using secret emails and burner phones to try and cover his tracks. 
• Paxton allegedly used his pal Nate Paul, who was recently convicted of bank fraud, to help hide his affair and provide his mistress with employment in Austin so that Paxton could be closer to her.
• Twenty articles of impeachment were filed against Paxton in the Texas legislature over alleged bribery, abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
• Paxton was indicted on security fraud charges that were later dropped after he paid $300,000 in restitution and completed community service.
• Paxton refused to disclose multiple out-of-state properties in his 2023 financial disclosure, including a $1.6 million luxury hide-away.

Who put this list together? The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which quietly removed the list from its website after Paxton defeated Cornyn. (The list above is reprinted verbatim from the NRSC’s since-deleted post.)

Kevin Kruse, a historian at Princeton University, described Paxton as “basically a walking Thomas Nast illustration of corruption,” which hardly seemed hyperbolic. We are, after all, talking about a man whose own senior staffers reported him to the FBI, alleging he illegally used his position to help a prominent donor.

For his part, the incumbent president, who’s long competed with Paxton for the title of the most corrupt politician in America, vowed on Wednesday morning to “do some nice, big, beautiful rallies” for the GOP nominee. Watch this space.

The post The long list of scandals that will dog Texas’ Ken Paxton from now until Election Day appeared first on MS NOW.

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