The person behind the name
Ken Paxton’s public career runs from a decade in the Texas House and two years in the Texas Senate to eleven years as the state’s Attorney General, an office he has used to sue two Democratic administrations and the largest technology companies, and one in which he was himself indicted, impeached and acquitted.
The official biography does not state a birth year or a birthplace; the campaign biography describes him as the son of an Air Force veteran. He settled in Collin County after his studies; the official biography says he headed his own law firm in McKinney for fourteen years, and KERA reports that he opened the practice in 2002, the year he won his House seat. The official biography lists four children, Tucker, Abby, Mattie and Katie, and five grandchildren. [1][2][37]
Education and professional preparation
His official biography reports a B.A. in psychology and an M.B.A. from Baylor University, where he served as student body president, and a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. It records work as an attorney at Strasburger & Price, as in-house counsel to the J.C. Penney Company and fourteen years heading his own firm in McKinney. Degree years and bar records were not part of this review. [1]
From the Legislature to the Attorney General’s office
First elected to the Texas House in 2002, he represented House District 70 for ten years and was elected to Senate District 8 in 2012. He ran for Speaker ahead of the 2011 session and withdrew after a Republican caucus meeting. In 2014 he won the Republican runoff for Attorney General over Dan Branch with 466,407 votes, 63.41 percent, and the general election over Sam Houston with 2,743,473 votes, 58.82 percent. He was sworn in on January 5, 2015, re-elected in 2018 with 4,193,207 votes, 50.57 percent, over Justin Nelson, and re-elected to a third term in 2022 after defeating George P. Bush in the May 24 Republican runoff and Democrat Rochelle Garza in November. [1][37][11][9][10][27][41]
On April 8, 2025 he announced a challenge to Senator John Cornyn. In the March 3, 2026 primary Cornyn led with 910,382 votes to Paxton’s 878,564, 42.01 percent to 40.54 percent, with Representative Wesley Hunt third; in the May 26 runoff Paxton won 888,196 votes, 63.82 percent, to Cornyn’s 503,438. He faces state Representative James Talarico, who won the Democratic primary outright with 52.45 percent, in the November 3, 2026 general election. [29][7][6][8]
A note on the indictment. Paxton was indicted on three securities-fraud counts in July 2015, months into his first term. A March 2024 pretrial agreement, with no plea and no finding of guilt, set the terms for dismissal; in June 2025 the special prosecutors said the terms had been met, the state moved to dismiss, and Paxton’s lawyer posted the signed dismissal. It is described in the fuller record below. [23][24][43]
Life & public service
From a Collin County law practice to the Legislature, the Attorney General’s office and a statewide Senate campaign, the documented milestones show how the record was built.
A bid for Speaker
Ran for Speaker of the Texas House ahead of the 2011 session and withdrew after a Republican caucus meeting, as KERA recounts. [37]
Re-elected
Won a second term with 4,193,207 votes, 50.57 percent, over Justin Nelson. [10]
The whistleblowers and Texas v. Pennsylvania
Eight senior aides reported him to the FBI in September 2020; four of them, fired or forced out in the weeks that followed, sued in November. On December 11 the Supreme Court denied Texas leave to file its complaint against four states’ presidential results, for lack of standing. [25][26][24][12][28]
California v. Texas
On June 17, 2021 the Supreme Court held, seven to two, that Texas and its co-plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the Affordable Care Act’s coverage provision. [14]
A third term
Defeated George P. Bush in the May 24 Republican runoff with more than two-thirds of the vote; the State Bar’s disciplinary suit was filed the next day; won a third term in November over Democrat Rochelle Garza; by this review’s sum of the Legislative Council’s precinct-level returns, 4,278,859 votes, 53.41 percent, to Garza’s 3,498,276. [27][41][42][1]
Accomplishments, in the record
Court records, official canvasses and the office’s own releases establish the following work. Outcomes are described at the level those records support, with shared credit where the measure was another official’s initiative and with the office’s self-reported figures labeled as such.
Twelve years in the Texas Legislature
The official biography records ten years representing House District 70, from the 2002 election, and a term in Senate District 8 from the 2012 election until he left for the Attorney General’s office in January 2015. KERA reports that in 2004 The Dallas Morning News editorial board described him as an “easygoing consensus builder” focused on school finance and transportation, and that ahead of the 2011 session he sought the Speakership and withdrew after a Republican caucus meeting. The bill records of those sessions were not part of this review, and no authorship of particular statutes is asserted here. [1][37]
The injunction against DAPA
Texas, first-named among twenty-six states, challenged the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program announced in November 2014. The case carries a 2014 docket number in the Southern District of Texas, so it was on file before Paxton took office; on February 16, 2015, six weeks after he was sworn in, Judge Andrew S. Hanen enjoined the program; the Fifth Circuit affirmed on November 9, 2015; and on June 23, 2016 the Supreme Court, divided four to four, affirmed the judgment without opinion, leaving the injunction in place. Texas Solicitor General Scott A. Keller was counsel of record. Who drafted the original complaint was not established by the documents reviewed here. [38][15][13][1]
The challenge to the Affordable Care Act
Texas, more than a dozen other states and two individuals sued after Congress set the Act’s individual-mandate penalty to zero in 2017. The district court found the coverage provision unconstitutional and inseverable from the rest of the Act; the Fifth Circuit agreed on standing and unconstitutionality but not on severability; on June 17, 2021 the Supreme Court held, seven to two, that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they had shown no injury traceable to the provision. The official biography describes the district-court ruling as a win; the final judgment went against the state. [14][1]
Three settlements of more than $1 billion
On July 30, 2024 the office announced a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta, payable over five years, of a February 2022 suit under the state’s Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which it called “the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single State”; Keller Postman and McKool Smith served as co-counsel. On October 31, 2025 it announced that Google had signed a $1.375 billion agreement resolving geolocation, incognito-browsing and biometric claims, with Norton Rose Fulbright as outside counsel, following earlier Google settlements of $700 million and $8 million. On August 26, 2026 it announced a further settlement with Meta of more than $1 billion, with age-assurance rules and a two-hour daily limit for teen users. On September 10, 2026 it announced that a state district judge, Cory Liu, had found TikTok liable on the state’s claims about the platform’s safety representations, with a trial on relief and penalties expected the following month. These are the office’s own accounts; the settlement instruments and the TikTok ruling were not reviewed. [16][17][18][40]
The agency’s core work, as the office reports it
The official biography says the Child Support Division collected more than $4.8 billion for Texas families in fiscal year 2020 and calls it the “most successful and cost-effective program in the nation”; it describes the Human Trafficking and Transnational Organized Crime section as his first major initiative and credits it with helping arrest the chief executive of Backpage.com in its first year. It also reports opioid settlements of $1.6 billion with Mallinckrodt and $38.4 million with McKinsey without stating what share of each accrues to Texas. These are the office’s statements; audits of the figures were not part of this review. [1]
Suits against two administrations, counted by the office and the campaign
The official biography says he filed 27 lawsuits against the Obama administration in a two-year stretch, six of them heard by the Supreme Court, and that he has “obtained an injunction or other winning ruling in more than 75 percent of the cases” brought against the federal government. The campaign says he “sued the Biden administration over 100 times” and repeats a CNN description of Texas as “a legal graveyard for Biden policies.” Both counts are the office’s and the campaign’s own; this review did not tally the dockets, and the two Supreme Court outcomes documented above went one way and the other. [1][2]
Noncitizen-voting charges in Tarrant County
On September 15, 2026 the office announced the arrest of seven noncitizens charged in connection with the 2024 general election, in a case brought with the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations; by the office’s account five were charged with voting as aliens and making false citizenship statements to register, one with voting as an alien and one with false statements in a naturalization matter. Votebeat and The Texas Tribune reported that six had been indicted the week before and one was charged by complaint, that the Secretary of State separately referred 117 potential noncitizen-voting cases to the office and confirmed that 578 other registered voters flagged by a federal database were citizens, and that seven is a small fraction of the more than 11 million ballots cast in November 2024. [39][36]
Family & community
His official biography lists four children, Tucker, Abby, Mattie and Katie, and five grandchildren, and records a law practice built over fourteen years in McKinney; the campaign biography adds that he is the son of an Air Force veteran. Neither biography describes his marital status; the divorce filing announced in July 2025 is noted in the fuller record. [1][2][32]
Neither the official biography nor the campaign biography states a religious affiliation, and this profile makes no claim about one. Neither describes charitable or community board service, and none is asserted here.
Mission & priorities
“From the courtroom to the Capitol, Ken Paxton has never stopped fighting for Texas — and he’s just getting started.” {2}
The following summarizes the agenda on Paxton’s official campaign website. These are proposed priorities, not completed accomplishments. [3]
01Carry President Trump’s agenda
“In Washington, Ken Paxton will champion President Trump’s legislative priorities, including cutting taxes, securing the border and deporting illegal aliens, ending the weaponization of government, and draining the Swamp.” President Trump’s endorsement of May 19, 2026 cited Paxton’s support for ending the Senate filibuster. [3][30]
02The border and national sovereignty
“Ken Paxton is running to help President Trump finish the border wall and protect our national sovereignty.” The record behind the plank is the office’s immigration litigation: the twenty-six-state challenge, on file before he took office, that kept the DAPA program enjoined after the Supreme Court divided four to four in 2016. [3][38][13][15]
03Take on Big Food and Big Pharma
The campaign says “Ken Paxton believes Americans deserve transparency, accountability, and the freedom to make informed choices about their health” and that in the Senate he will work with President Trump to Make America Healthy Again. The campaign biography also says he sued Pfizer over its statements about the COVID-19 vaccine; that suit’s docket was not part of this review. [3][2]
04Guns, life and schools
“He will stand with President Trump to protect our gun rights, defend the unborn, and defeat the radical transgender movement that’s desperate to put men in girls’ sports and woke indoctrination in our classrooms.” [3]
05An America First foreign policy
“Alongside President Trump, he will work to advance an America First foreign policy that promotes peace through strength, prioritizes our nation’s interests first and foremost, and ensures the safety of American citizens.” [3]
06Spending, taxes and energy
“Ken Paxton is a strong fiscal conservative who will fight to cut taxes and stop the wasteful spending that has led to our nation being in over $36 trillion dollars in debt.” The first substantial broadcast advertising of his general-election campaign, launched in September 2026 by the Paxton Victory joint fundraising committee in three South Texas markets, promotes tax deductions for expenses such as a home down payment and health-insurance premiums and attacks Talarico’s opposition to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. [3][35]
07Crypto innovation
“America must be the crypto capital of the world and support innovation and growth.” The campaign names passage of the CLARITY Act as the key to a regulatory framework for digital assets. [3]
08Election integrity
The campaign’s home page says he has “fought for election integrity”; President Trump’s endorsement cited his support for the Republican voting bill. In office, his guidance to voters states that “You must register to vote using the address where you reside,” and on September 15, 2026 his office announced the arrest of seven noncitizens charged with federal partners in connection with the 2024 election. The question raised about his own registration is described in the fuller record. [4][30][33][39][36]
How to assess a proposal. A campaign plan states an intention. Enactment, implementation costs, replacement revenue, and measured results are separate questions. These priorities should be read alongside the legislative and voting history above.
The fuller record
A useful profile includes policy tradeoffs, the limits of a claim, and responses to material criticism. The matters below are drawn from court records, the House Journal and reporting by established outlets, with Paxton’s response where it is on record.
The securities-fraud case, 2015–2025
In July 2015, months into his first term, a Collin County grand jury indicted Paxton on three felony counts: two first-degree counts alleging that he solicited investors for Servergy, a McKinney technology company, without disclosing that he would be compensated, and a third-degree count of steering clients to an investment adviser without registering with the state securities board. KERA reports that in the spring of 2014, during the attorney general campaign, he had admitted soliciting clients for a financial firm without registering with the Texas State Securities Board. The case moved between courts for nearly nine years over venue and prosecutor-pay disputes. On March 26, 2024, three weeks before a scheduled trial in Harris County, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the charges under a pretrial agreement requiring 100 hours of community service, 15 hours of legal-ethics courses and restitution the prosecutor put at about $271,000, with no plea and no admission of wrongdoing. Paxton said: “There will never be a conviction in this case nor am I guilty.” In June 2025 the special prosecutors said the terms had been fulfilled and the state moved to dismiss; his lawyer posted the signed dismissal and said the case had ended. He was twice re-elected while under indictment. [23][24][43][37]
The whistleblowers, the impeachment and the acquittal
In September 2020 eight senior aides reported Paxton to the FBI, alleging that he had used the office to help Nate Paul, an Austin real-estate investor and donor; four of them, fired or forced out soon afterward, sued in November 2020 under the Texas Whistleblower Act. A proposed $3.3 million settlement needed legislative funding, and Paxton’s 2023 request for it prompted a House investigation. On May 27, 2023 the House adopted HR 2377, twenty articles of impeachment, by Record 2191: 121 yeas to 23 nays; James Talarico, now his general-election opponent, is listed among the yeas. Suspended from office, he was tried in the Senate and acquitted on September 16, 2023 on all sixteen articles tried, no article drawing more than 14 of the 21 votes needed to convict; four articles were dismissed. Paxton called the proceeding a sham and said: “The weaponization of the impeachment process to settle political differences is not only wrong, it is immoral and corrupt.” In the civil case, after the office stopped contesting the facts, Judge Catherine Mauzy of Travis County awarded the four former aides $6.6 million on April 4, 2025; Paxton called it “a ridiculous judgment that is not based on the facts or the law” and said he would appeal. The Tribune reported a State Auditor’s estimate of about $5.1 million for the cost of the Senate trial. [21][19][20][22][25][24]
The federal investigation
The FBI inquiry that followed the aides’ 2020 reports was taken over by the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section in 2023, and Nate Paul pleaded guilty in January 2025 to a federal charge arising from accusations that he made false statements to banks. No federal charge has been filed against Paxton, and the department declined to comment to the Associated Press; a report that it decided in the final weeks of the Biden administration not to prosecute rested on two people the AP did not name and is recorded here only as such. Paxton’s lawyer Dan Cogdell said: “I never thought they had a case they could make.” [26]
Texas v. Pennsylvania and the State Bar
In December 2020 Paxton asked the Supreme Court for leave to sue Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin over their presidential results. On December 11 the Court denied the motion for lack of standing, writing that “Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another State conducts its elections.” Justices Alito and Thomas would have allowed the filing but granted no other relief. On May 25, 2022 the State Bar’s Commission for Lawyer Discipline sued him in Collin County for professional misconduct over the suit’s factual representations; Paxton, who had announced earlier that month that he would be sued, had said: “Texas Bar: I’ll see you and the leftists that control you in court.” In January 2025, after the Texas Supreme Court had dismissed the parallel case against his first assistant on separation-of-powers grounds, the commission moved to drop its case and the court found it moot. The dismissal turned on mootness and separation of powers, not on whether the 2020 filing met the disciplinary rules. [12][27][28]
A divorce, and a question of residence
On July 10, 2025 state Senator Angela Paxton announced that she had filed for divorce. Paxton’s statement cited the “pressures of countless political attacks and public scrutiny” and said the couple had “decided to start a new chapter.” In July 2026 ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported that he had voted in six elections over two years, including the May runoff, while registered at the Collin County home the senator’s filing said he had left in 2024, and linked him to a Denton County property; his office’s own guidance tells voters, “You must register to vote using the address where you reside.” The campaign did not answer the outlets’ questions and said he has been “a national leader on election integrity, with a long record of defending Texas elections.” Election lawyers quoted in the report said he may have violated the residence rules but that such cases turn on intent and are rarely prosecuted; the report describes no charge and no finding by a court or official, and none appears in the sources reviewed here. [32][33]
Money, endorsements and the 2026 field
Cornyn’s side outspent Paxton’s by close to nine to one over the whole primary campaign, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee ran advertising against him. President Trump endorsed him on May 19, 2026, a week before the runoff, and Representative Wesley Hunt, third in the March primary, followed the same day; he won the runoff with 63.82 percent, making Cornyn the first Texas senator to lose to a member of his own party since 1970, and Club for Growth PAC endorsed him as the results came in. Through June 30, 2026 his committees reported $9,248,698.53 raised and $1,755,783.35 on hand; the Tribune reports that Talarico has significantly outraised him, that allied groups including Texas PAC have since committed tens of millions to the race, that polling shows Talarico with a lead inside the margin of error and that several analysts classify the race as a toss-up. The campaign’s site is paid for by Ken Paxton for Senate, the principal committee on file with the FEC. Endorsements establish political support; they are not evaluations of the record above. [31][30][6][5][35][34][4]
Questions & answers
Who is Ken Paxton?
Ken Paxton’s public career runs from a decade in the Texas House and two years in the Texas Senate to eleven years as the state’s Attorney General, an office he has used to sue two Democratic administrations and the largest technology companies, and one in which he was himself indicted, impeached and acquitted. The official biography does not state a birth year or a birthplace; the campaign biography describes him as the son of an Air Force veteran. He settled in Collin County after his studies; the official biography says he headed his own law firm in McKinney for fourteen years, and KERA reports that he opened the practice in 2002, the year he won his House seat. The official biography lists four children, Tucker, Abby, Mattie and Katie, and five grandchildren. [1][2][37]
What office is Ken Paxton running for in 2026?
Who is Ken Paxton running against?
On April 8, 2025 he announced a challenge to Senator John Cornyn. In the March 3, 2026 primary Cornyn led with 910,382 votes to Paxton’s 878,564, 42.01 percent to 40.54 percent, with Representative Wesley Hunt third; in the May 26 runoff Paxton won 888,196 votes, 63.82 percent, to Cornyn’s 503,438. He faces state Representative James Talarico, who won the Democratic primary outright with 52.45 percent, in the November 3, 2026 general election. [29][7][6][8]
What are Ken Paxton's stated priorities?
The following summarizes the agenda on Paxton’s official campaign website. These are proposed priorities, not completed accomplishments. [3] The campaign lists: Carry President Trump’s agenda; The border and national sovereignty; Take on Big Food and Big Pharma; Guns, life and schools; An America First foreign policy; Spending, taxes and energy; Crypto innovation; Election integrity.
What does the public record show?
Court records, official canvasses and the office’s own releases establish the following work. Outcomes are described at the level those records support, with shared credit where the measure was another official’s initiative and with the office’s self-reported figures labeled as such. The official biography records ten years representing House District 70, from the 2002 election, and a term in Senate District 8 from the 2012 election until he left for the Attorney General’s office in January 2015. KERA reports that in 2004 The Dallas Morning News editorial board described him as an “easygoing consensus builder” focused on school finance and transportation, and that ahead of the 2011 session he sought the Speakership and withdrew after a Republican caucus meeting. The bill records of those sessions were not part of this review, and no authorship of particular statutes is asserted here. [1][37]
How was this profile researched?
Reviewed September 17, 2026. This is a documented overview of publicly available biography, major actions and stated priorities, not an exhaustive account of the office’s litigation. Numerical claims retain their original meaning and attribution; the office’s self-reported figures are labeled as such. The Secretary of State’s results site for 2019 to 2024 and the Ballotpedia entry could not be retrieved by the tools used for this review; the 2022 general-election totals given here are this review’s sum of the Texas Legislative Council’s precinct-level returns file for that race and are labeled as such. Bar records, degree years, personal financial disclosures, the Texas State Securities Board file, the settlement instruments, the TikTok ruling and the dismissal order in the securities case were not part of this review. A court’s finding, a legislative committee’s articles and a news organization’s investigation are each labeled as what they are. The source list provides direct links so readers can check the underlying material. Filings and campaign pages may change after this review.
Sources & methodology
Government records anchor the profile: the Secretary of State’s canvasses, the Supreme Court’s orders and dockets, the House Journal and the office’s own releases; official and campaign biographies establish attributed background; reporting by established outlets supplies responses and scrutiny; campaign materials are used for the candidate’s own priorities and claims.
- 01About the Attorney General (official biography)Office of the Attorney General of Texas · Accessed September 17, 2026
Official biography: 51st Attorney General, elected November 4, 2014 and sworn in January 5, 2015; Baylor and University of Virginia degrees; Strasburger & Price, J.C. Penney and fourteen years in his own McKinney firm; House District 70 from 2002 and Senate District 8 from 2012; four children and five grandchildren; the office’s own account of its lawsuits, child-support collections and trafficking unit.Government record - 02Built for This Fight — About KenKen Paxton for U.S. Senate (campaign) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Campaign biography: son of an Air Force veteran; the claim of more than 100 suits against the Biden administration; self-descriptions.Campaign or advocacy material - 03Issues — The Fight Is NowKen Paxton for U.S. Senate (campaign) · Accessed September 17, 2026
The campaign planks quoted in this profile. Proposals, not record.Campaign or advocacy material - 04Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate (home page)Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate (campaign) · Accessed September 17, 2026
Committee attribution line, media contact and the campaign’s social-media links.Campaign or advocacy material - 05Candidate overview: PAXTON, WARREN KENNETH JR. (S6TX00388)Federal Election Commission · Coverage through June 30, 2026
Principal committee Ken Paxton for Senate; total receipts $9,248,698.53, disbursements $7,492,915.18 and cash on hand $1,755,783.35 for April 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026; the statement of candidacy on file was filed August 5, 2026.Government record - 062026 Republican Primary Runoff Election — U.S. Senator (official results)Texas Secretary of State (election results site) · May 26, 2026; results last updated June 12, 2026
Paxton 888,196 (63.82 percent), Cornyn 503,438 (36.18 percent), 254 of 254 counties reporting. Select the 2026 Republican Primary Runoff Election on the linked page; the figures were read through the site’s data service (election 58315).Government record - 072026 Republican Primary Election — U.S. Senator (official results)Texas Secretary of State (election results site) · March 3, 2026; results last updated April 14, 2026
Cornyn 910,382 (42.01 percent), Paxton 878,564 (40.54 percent), Hunt 293,250 (13.53 percent) of 2,166,910 votes. Select the 2026 Republican Primary Election on the linked page; figures read through the site’s data service (election 53813).Government record - 082026 Democratic Primary Election — U.S. Senator (official results)Texas Secretary of State (election results site) · March 3, 2026; results last updated March 24, 2026
Talarico 1,216,412 (52.45 percent), Crockett 1,071,900 (46.22 percent). Select the 2026 Democratic Primary Election on the linked page; figures read through the site’s data service (election 53814).Government record - 09Race Summary Report, 2014 General Election — Attorney GeneralTexas Secretary of State · November 4, 2014
Paxton 2,743,473 (58.82 percent); Sam Houston 1,773,250 (38.02 percent); race total 4,664,511.Government record - 10Race Summary Report, 2018 General Election — Attorney GeneralTexas Secretary of State · November 6, 2018
Paxton 4,193,207 (50.57 percent); Justin Nelson 3,898,098 (47.01 percent); race total 8,292,615.Government record - 11Race Summary Report, 2014 Republican Party Primary Runoff — Attorney GeneralTexas Secretary of State · May 27, 2014
Paxton 466,407 (63.41 percent); Dan Branch 269,098 (36.59 percent); race total 735,505.Government record - 12Order List, 592 U.S. — No. 155, Orig., Texas v. Pennsylvania, et al.Supreme Court of the United States · December 11, 2020
The motion for leave to file a bill of complaint denied for lack of standing under Article III; statement of Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas.Government record - 13Docket No. 15-674, United States, et al. v. Texas, et al.Supreme Court of the United States · Affirmed June 23, 2016
Docketed November 20, 2015; on June 23, 2016 the judgment was affirmed by an equally divided Court, per curiam; Texas Solicitor General Scott A. Keller as counsel of record for the respondent states.Government record - 14California et al. v. Texas et al., No. 19-840 (slip opinion)Supreme Court of the United States · June 17, 2021
Texas, over a dozen states and two individuals lacked standing to challenge the Affordable Care Act’s coverage provision; Breyer for a seven-justice majority, Alito and Gorsuch dissenting; the lower courts’ rulings described in the syllabus.Government record - 15Texas v. United States, No. 15-40238 (opinion)U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit · November 9, 2015 (revised November 25, 2015)
Twenty-six states’ challenge to the DAPA program; the district court’s injunction of February 16, 2015 affirmed on appeal.Government record - 16Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures $1.4 Billion Settlement with Meta Over Its Unauthorized Capture of Personal Biometric DataOffice of the Attorney General of Texas (news release) · July 30, 2024
The office’s announcement: suit filed February 2022 under the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act; $1.4 billion payable over five years; co-counsel Keller Postman and McKool Smith. The office’s own account.Government record - 17Attorney General Ken Paxton Finalizes Historic Settlement with Google and Secures $1.375 BillionOffice of the Attorney General of Texas (news release) · October 31, 2025
Google signed the $1.375 billion agreement resolving the geolocation, incognito-browsing and biometric claims; earlier $700 million and $8 million Google settlements; outside counsel Norton Rose Fulbright. The office’s own account.Government record - 18Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures Over $1 Billion from Meta in Historic Settlement that Protects Texas Kids OnlineOffice of the Attorney General of Texas (news release) · August 26, 2026
The third settlement above $1 billion, with age-assurance and time-limit terms for teen users; a TikTok trial scheduled for the fall of 2026. The office’s own account.Government record - 19House Journal, 88th Legislature, Regular Session — Seventy-Third Day, Saturday, May 27, 2023Texas House of Representatives · May 27, 2023
HR 2377 adopted by Record 2191: 121 yeas, 23 nays, 2 present not voting (page 5958); the roll lists Talarico among the yeas.Government record - 2088(R) History for HR 2377 — Impeaching Warren Kenneth Paxton, Attorney General of the State of TexasTexas Legislature Online · 2023; accessed September 17, 2026
The resolution’s caption, authors (Murr, Ann Johnson, Geren, Longoria, Spiller), filing on May 25, 2023 and adoption with record vote 2191 on May 27, 2023.Government record - 21Here are the 20 articles of impeachment filed against Ken PaxtonThe Texas Tribune · May 25, 2023
Summary of the articles: the Nate Paul allegations, the whistleblower firings, the $3.3 million settlement request and the bribery counts.Independent reporting - 22Texas AG Ken Paxton acquitted in impeachment trial, returned to officeThe Texas Tribune · September 16, 2023
Acquittal on 16 articles; no article drew more than 14 of the 21 votes needed; the two Republican senators who voted to convict on any article; Paxton’s statement.Independent reporting - 23Felony charges against Ken Paxton to be droppedThe Texas Tribune · March 26, 2024
The pretrial agreement: 100 hours of community service, 15 hours of legal-ethics courses, restitution of about $271,000 per the prosecutor, no plea and no admission; the July 2015 indictment on three counts; Paxton’s statement.Independent reporting - 24Texas files motion to dismiss Attorney General Ken Paxton’s felony securities fraud caseCBS Texas (KTVT) · June 18, 2025
Special prosecutors announced that the terms of the agreement had been fulfilled and moved to dismiss the case.Independent reporting - 25Attorney General Ken Paxton’s former aides win $6.6 million in whistleblower caseThe Texas Tribune · April 4, 2025
Judge Catherine Mauzy’s judgment for Brickman, Penley, Maxwell and Vassar; the office did not dispute the facts; Paxton’s response and vow to appeal; the State Auditor’s estimate of the impeachment trial’s cost.Independent reporting - 26Justice Department declined to prosecute Ken Paxton in final weeks of Biden’s term, AP sources sayThe Associated Press, via The Texas Tribune · April 3, 2025
The federal inquiry’s history: the 2020 FBI reports by eight aides, the Public Integrity Section’s takeover in 2023, Nate Paul’s January 2025 guilty plea. The reported declination rests on sources the AP did not name and is recorded here only as such.Independent reporting - 27Texas state bar files professional misconduct lawsuit against Ken PaxtonThe Texas Tribune · May 25, 2022
The Commission for Lawyer Discipline’s suit in Collin County over the 2020 election case; Paxton’s response; filed the day after his runoff win over George P. Bush.Independent reporting - 28Texas Supreme Court dismisses state bar’s lawsuit against Ken Paxton for challenging 2020 presidential electionThe Texas Tribune · January 23, 2025
The commission moved to dismiss after the court’s December 2024 ruling in the Webster case on separation of powers; the court found the case moot; no ruling on the merits.Independent reporting - 29Texas AG Ken Paxton officially joins U.S. Senate race challenging John CornynThe Texas Tribune · April 8, 2025
The announcement on Fox News; Cornyn’s campaign response; the 2022 Trump endorsement in the attorney general primary.Independent reporting - 30Trump endorses Ken Paxton in Senate GOP runoffThe Texas Tribune · May 19, 2026
The endorsement a week before the runoff, citing Paxton’s support for ending the filibuster; runoff advertising of nearly $25 million and a primary total near $125 million, most from the Cornyn side.Independent reporting - 31Ken Paxton defeats John Cornyn in Texas U.S. Senate GOP runoffThe Texas Tribune · May 26, 2026
The runoff result and its context: spending ratios, the NRSC’s attacks, the Cook Political Report’s rating move, Paxton’s victory statement, the first Texas senator to lose to his own party since 1970.Independent reporting - 32Sen. Angela Paxton files for divorce from Attorney General Ken PaxtonThe Texas Tribune · July 10, 2025
The senator’s announcement and the attorney general’s statement, in their own words.Independent reporting - 33Ken Paxton’s voter registration may violate Texas election lawProPublica and The Texas Tribune · July 7, 2026
Records showing six votes cast in two years under the Collin County address; the office’s own guidance on residence; the campaign’s response; election lawyers’ views; no charge or finding.Independent reporting - 34U.S. Senate race: Tracking poll results for James Talarico and Ken PaxtonThe Texas Tribune · August 7, 2026
The Tribune’s poll tracker: Talarico slightly ahead in polling since the runoff and ahead in fundraising.Independent reporting - 35Paxton campaign makes first major ad buy in Senate raceThe Texas Tribune · September 15, 2026
The economy-focused ads in three South Texas markets at about $300,000 a week; allied spending including about $60 million from Texas PAC; analysts’ toss-up classification; polling within the margin of error.Independent reporting - 36Texas announces noncitizen voting charges, investigationsVotebeat and The Texas Tribune · September 15, 2026
Seven people charged in Tarrant County with state and federal partners; 117 cases referred by the Secretary of State; 578 flagged voters confirmed as citizens.Independent reporting - 37Ken Paxton’s road from Collin County ‘consensus builder’ to polarizer to possible impeachmentKERA News (Dallas public radio) · May 26, 2023
Early career: the 2002 law practice and House win, the 2004 editorial description, the withdrawn 2011 Speaker bid, the 2012 Senate win, the 2014 securities-registration admission and the 2015 Collin County indictment.Independent reporting - 38Texas v. United States, Civil No. B-14-254 — Memorandum Opinion and Order (Document 145)U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, via GovInfo · February 16, 2015
Judge Andrew S. Hanen’s preliminary injunction against DAPA in a case carrying a 2014 docket number; twenty-six states or their representatives as plaintiffs.Government record - 39Attorney General Ken Paxton Announces the Arrest of Foreign Nationals Who Voted Illegally in the 2024 ElectionOffice of the Attorney General of Texas (news release) · September 15, 2026
The office’s announcement of seven arrests with the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, listing the charge against each person. The office’s own account.Government record - 40Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures Historic Victory Making Texas the First State in the Nation to Hold TikTok Liable for Harming ChildrenOffice of the Attorney General of Texas (news release) · September 10, 2026
The office’s account of District Judge Cory Liu’s liability finding in its January 2025 suit against TikTok, with a trial on relief expected the following month; the ruling itself was not reviewed.Government record - 41Ken Paxton wins third term as attorney general, beating Democrat Rochelle GarzaThe Texas Tribune · November 8, 2022
Election-night report of the 2022 general election: the win over Rochelle Garza as called by Decision Desk HQ, the primary field of Louie Gohmert, Eva Guzman and George P. Bush, and the runoff won with more than two-thirds of the vote.Independent reporting - 422022 General — Attorney General (precinct-level returns file)Texas Legislative Council, Capitol Data Portal · 2022; accessed September 17, 2026
Returns by voting tabulation district for all 254 counties (the linked file at ted.capitol.texas.gov); the statewide totals in this profile are this review’s sum of the file: Paxton 4,278,859, Garza 3,498,276, Ash 233,768, total 8,010,903. The Secretary of State’s canvass could not be retrieved.Government record - 43Ken Paxton’s felony case dismissed after completing pretrial diversion programFOX 26 Houston (KRIV) · June 18, 2025
Paxton’s lawyer posted a signed motion dismissing the charges after the pretrial-diversion conditions were completed; the 2015 Collin County indictment and the years of venue and prosecutor-pay disputes.Independent reporting
No matching sources. Try “Clerk,” “Senate,” or “campaign.”
Scope & method. Reviewed September 17, 2026. This is a documented overview of publicly available biography, major actions and stated priorities, not an exhaustive account of the office’s litigation. Numerical claims retain their original meaning and attribution; the office’s self-reported figures are labeled as such. The Secretary of State’s results site for 2019 to 2024 and the Ballotpedia entry could not be retrieved by the tools used for this review; the 2022 general-election totals given here are this review’s sum of the Texas Legislative Council’s precinct-level returns file for that race and are labeled as such. Bar records, degree years, personal financial disclosures, the Texas State Securities Board file, the settlement instruments, the TikTok ruling and the dismissal order in the securities case were not part of this review. A court’s finding, a legislative committee’s articles and a news organization’s investigation are each labeled as what they are. The source list provides direct links so readers can check the underlying material. Filings and campaign pages may change after this review.
Images. Conservative Ledger masthead supplied by the site creator. The candidate portrait is the official photograph published on the Office of the Attorney General of Texas’s About page; the site does not state a licence for the image, and it is reproduced as a state-government portrait pending the owner’s decision. No campaign-owned photograph is used. Inclusion does not imply campaign authorization or endorsement of this publication.
Where to find the candidate
Every link below was read from the campaign’s own website or the candidate’s official government page. A follower count is printed only where it was measured; otherwise the link is published and the number is left blank rather than guessed at.
The official office
Voting in Texas: official dates, deadlines and rules
The general election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. The dates and rules below were read from the Texas Secretary of State; the authority's own page, linked beside each one, is the final word.
Dates and deadlines
- Voter registration deadlineMonday, October 5, 2026. An application counts if it is postmarked by that date or received in the county voter registrar's office by that date. A voter registration application filled out online must still be printed and sent to the county voter registrar's office. Read from: votetexas.gov/faq/registration.html
- Ballots sent to military and overseas (FPCA) votersSaturday, September 19, 2026 — deadline for county election officials to mail or email ballots to military and overseas voters who applied with a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA); for an FPCA received after that date, the ballot goes out no later than the seventh calendar day after it is received. This date applies to FPCA voters only. Read from: sos.texas.gov/elections/laws/advisory2026-03.shtml
- Early voting in person beginsMonday, October 19, 2026 — first day of early voting by personal appearance. Read from: votetexas.gov/faq/early-voting.html
- Early voting in person endsFriday, October 30, 2026 — last day of early voting by personal appearance. Read from: votetexas.gov/faq/early-voting.html
- Deadline to apply for a ballot by mail (received, not postmarked)Friday, October 23, 2026. The Application for Ballot by Mail (ABBM) must be received — not just postmarked — by the early voting clerk in the county where you are registered, before the close of regular business or 12 noon, whichever is later. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/application-for-ballot-by-mail.html
- Deadline to return a ballot by mail (received by)The early voting clerk must receive the ballot by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026, if the carrier envelope is not postmarked; or by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 (the next business day), if the carrier envelope is postmarked by 7:00 p.m. on Election Day at the location of the election. Different deadlines apply to overseas and military voters. Read from: sos.texas.gov/elections/voter/important-election-dates.shtml
- Polling place hours on Election Day7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Election Day, November 3, 2026, at all polling places statewide. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting/where.html
Rules to know
- What to bringVoters who have one of seven acceptable forms of photo ID must present it when voting in person: a Texas driver license, Texas Election Identification Certificate, Texas personal identification card or Texas handgun license issued by the Department of Public Safety (DPS); a U.S. military ID card with photo; a U.S. citizenship certificate with photo; or a U.S. passport. For voters aged 18–69 the ID may be expired no more than four years; for voters 70 or older, for any length of time. A voter who does not have one of these and cannot reasonably obtain one may show a supporting form of ID — such as a voter registration certificate, current utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck — and sign a Reasonable Impediment Declaration. A voter who has an acceptable ID but does not bring it may vote provisionally and has six days to show it to the county voter registrar. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting/need-id.html
- Who may vote by mail and how to applyVoting by mail in Texas is limited to voters who are 65 or older on Election Day; sick or disabled; expecting to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day; absent from their county of registration during the early voting period and on Election Day; civilly committed under Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code; or confined in jail but otherwise eligible. To ask for a ballot, send an Application for Ballot by Mail (ABBM) to the early voting clerk in the county where you are registered — in person, by mail, by common or contract carrier, or by fax or email (if faxed or emailed, the application must also be mailed so that the clerk receives it no later than the fourth business day after the clerk received the fax or email). VoteTexas.gov says a voter who applies because of an expected absence may apply in person before the period of early voting in person begins (Monday, October 19, 2026). The ABBM must include your Texas driver license, Texas personal ID or Election Identification Certificate number or, if you have none of these, the last four digits of your Social Security number. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/eligibility-requirements.html
- Early voting in personAny registered voter may vote early in person; no special qualification is required. From October 19 through October 30, 2026, you may vote at any early voting location in your county of registration. Hours vary by location. Early voting locations appear in the state's My Voter Portal two days before the first day of early voting, and the early voting clerk in your county can also provide them. Read from: votetexas.gov/faq/early-voting.html
- Track your ballot by mailAfter you send your ballot by mail to your county's early voting clerk, you can check its status in the Ballot by Mail Tracker on the Texas Secretary of State's My Voter Portal. To log in, enter your first and last name, your date of birth, the last four digits of your Social Security number, and your Texas driver license or DPS personal ID number. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/track-my-ballot.html
- Correcting a defect in a mail ballot application or carrier envelopeIf your Application for Ballot by Mail or your carrier envelope was rejected because the ID number was missing or did not match your voter registration record, you may correct the defect online through the Ballot by Mail Tracker. For other carrier-envelope defects — no signature, a signature mismatch, a missing Statement of Residence or incomplete witness information — complete the Corrective Action Form enclosed with the notice of defect and mail it back to the early voting clerk, or complete it in person at the clerk's office. You have until the 6th day after Election Day to correct the defect so that the ballot is counted. You may instead cancel the ballot by mail at an early voting or Election Day polling place and vote in person; without the mail ballot to surrender, the only option is a provisional ballot. Read from: votetexas.gov/voting-by-mail/corrective-action.html
Read from: Welcome to Texas Elections · Important Election Dates · November 3, 2026 Election Law Calendar · Current Elections Information List · Ballot Certification Report 2026 NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION November 03, 2026 · SAMPLE BALLOT (BOLETA DE MUESTRA) — Rules and dates as of Sep 17, 2026
Ideas, questions, corrections
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