{"id":6148,"date":"2025-04-04T09:48:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T09:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=6148"},"modified":"2025-04-04T09:48:32","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T09:48:32","slug":"texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-gears-up-for-potential-senate-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/?p=6148","title":{"rendered":"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton gears up for potential Senate run"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

AUSTIN, Texas — <\/span>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) \u2014 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a> is gearing up for a potential U.S. Senate run while no longer shadowed by a federal corruption investigation that hung over his rising profile in the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

That durability would be tested against Republican Sen. John Cornyn<\/a> should Paxton embark on what would likely be one of the country’s most contentious 2026 primary battles. <\/p>\n

Paxton, a close ally of President Donald Trump<\/a>, has hinted at challenging Cornyn for more than a year but has not said when he will make a decision. <\/p>\n

In the final weeks of the Biden administration, the Justice Department decided not to pursue its investigation into Paxton<\/a> over bribery allegations, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. <\/p>\n

Though the date of the decision was not immediately clear, it was made in the final weeks of the President Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, one of the people said.<\/p>\n

The accusations were arguably the most serious of multiple legal troubles Paxton has faced since becoming attorney general in 2015, including felony securities fraud charges<\/a> that hovered over him for nearly a decade before he agreed to pay nearly $300,000 in restitution fees. The attorney general also faced an investigation by the Texas State Bar<\/a> for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.<\/p>\n

Paxton characterized the investigation as a \u201cbogus witch hunt” in a social media post on X responding to the news Thursday. He also tacked on a fresh barb toward Cornyn. <\/p>\n

\u201cCare to comment now, John?” Paxton posted. <\/p>\n

Paxton declined an interview request through a spokesperson Thursday. <\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Cornyn did not immediately respond to phone and email requests seeking comment. <\/p>\n

The quiet dismissal underscores Paxton’s political resiliency and ascendency among his party’s hard-right in recent years while also potentially giving his opponents less fodder for political attacks. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no more clouds over him,” said Bill Miller, a longtime Texas lobbyist and friend of Paxton. <\/p>\n

Paxton has targeted Cornyn since the senator became one of few prominent Republicans to criticize him. Cornyn, who helped push a bipartisan gun control bill after the 2022 mass shooting at an Uvalde elementary school<\/a>, also previously came under criticism from conservative activists who have driven the party’s agenda farther to the right.<\/p>\n

Cornyn, who also served as Texas attorney general, has served in the Senate since 2002 and is a popular member of the GOP conference. But Cornyn lost to South Dakota Sen. John Thune<\/a> in a close bid to become Senate majority leader. If Paxton enters the race, it will likely be the senator’s most competitive primary campaign to date.<\/p>\n

In 2020, eight of Paxton’s closest aides accused him of using his office to benefit a Texas real estate developer who employed a woman Paxton was having an extramarital affair with. He was impeached and acquitted in the Texas Senate in 2023.<\/p>\n

Nate Paul, the real estate developer, pleaded guilty in January to federal charges for lying to banks to receive millions of dollars in loans.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press reporters Alanna Durkin Richer and Eric Tucker contributed to this report from Washington, D.C. Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press\/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America<\/a> is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) \u2014 Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is gearing up for a potential U.S. Senate run while no longer shadowed by a federal corruption investigation that hung over his rising profile in the Republican Party. That durability would be tested against Republican Sen. John Cornyn should Paxton embark on what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6150,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6148\/revisions\/6150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/firearmman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}