Again and again throughout his political career, Ken Paxton has found himself in trouble, and each time his wife Angela has come to his defense. In 2022, a process server attempting to deliver a subpoena watched Ms. Paxton drive Mr. Paxton away from their home. The following year, during his impeachment trial aired multiple allegations of corruption and an extramarital affair, Ms. Paxton, a Republican state senator, sat stoically through the entire proceedings, which she later dismissed as "all of this foolishness." Now, in the homestretch of the 2026 campaign, with polls showing Mr. Paxton trailing Democrat James Talarico in the U.S. Senate race, Ms. Paxton is urging voters in a new television ad to back the entire Republican ticket — even as she is divorcing her husband and accusing him of adultery.
It is not just Mr. Paxton's political future at stake, but also her own. Ms. Paxton, 63, has tried to build a political identity separate from her polarizing husband, staking out ground in policy debates over artificial intelligence, campaign finance reform, and social issues like abortion. Allies envision her running for statewide office in the future regardless of whether Mr. Paxton is serving in Washington. The new ad, in which Ms. Paxton never mentions his name, is a surreal chapter in the saga of one of the most powerful attorneys general in the country.
The decision to deploy Ms. Paxton in this reliably red state reveals how precarious the Texas race has become for Republicans, as they fight to maintain control of the Senate. Ms. Paxton feared staying silent could hurt her reputation and open the door to politically damaging questions about her loyalty to the party. A loss by Mr. Paxton in Texas, which hasn't elected a Democrat in a statewide race in more than three decades, would be viewed as disastrous for the Republican Party. Ms. Paxton does not want to be viewed as a victim, though she has felt "hurt and broken" by her husband's behavior. Last July, she reached her breaking point and filed for divorce "on biblical grounds." After tabloids published photographs of Mr. Paxton touring Europe with another woman over the summer, friends and supporters began pressing Ms. Paxton on whether they should support his Senate campaign.
She agreed to appear in the pro-Paxton ad as long as she could write the script. Much of her argument is left to subtext: "In a general election, it's not as much about the individual players on the team. It's about getting the whole team across the finish line.".
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing