Ken Paxton Faces Scrutiny Over 350 State-Funded Trips and $730,000 in Legal Help
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 26
Ken Paxton Faces Scrutiny Over 350 State-Funded Trips and $730,000 in Legal Help
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 26
Summary
About 350 trips outside Texas since 2015, including 25 to foreign countries, have put Attorney General Ken Paxton’s state-funded travel under fresh campaign scrutiny in his Senate race.
Records reviewed by the New York Times also show wealthy friends contributed $730,000 to Paxton’s securities-fraud legal bills and provided flights, lodging, hunting and fishing trips, and event tickets.
James Talarico, Paxton’s Democratic rival, is using that travel and lifestyle to argue Paxton exploited public office for personal gain, citing a real-estate portfolio of at least 15 properties worth about $9 million.
The attacks land in a tight race in deeply conservative Texas, where Democrats have not won statewide in more than three decades and polls suggest Talarico’s message may be reaching some voters.