28 United States The Economist April 16th 2022
The heartofTexas
I
n 2013 alittleknown state senator passed through the security
check at a courthouse in Collin County, Texas, and noticed a few
pens that had been left behind. He pocketed one of them, a $1,000
Montblanc. Later, the pen’s rightful owner asked officials to re
view video footage, which revealed they had been grabbed by Ken
Paxton, the state senator who would soon be elected Texas’s attor
neygeneral. After a sheriff’s deputy called Mr Paxton, he returned
the Montblanc and said it was a mistake.
The incident was minor enough not to attract much attention,
but Mr Paxton has since become a prominent symbol of redstate
resistance to Democratic policies. He has sued the federal govern
ment 25 times since President Joe Biden was inaugurated in Janu
ary 2021, on issues such as immigration enforcement, covid19 re
strictions, guns, energy policy and the minimum wage. His pug
naciousness, and devotion to Donald Trump, have endeared him
to the Republican base.
On May 24th Mr Paxton will be in a Republican primary runoff
for attorneygeneral against George P. Bush, Texas’s land commis
sioner and a nephew of George W. Bush, a former governor and
president. Both candidates competed for Mr Trump’s endorse
ment, which is highoctane fuel in Texan Republican primaryvot
er circles. Although his father, Jeb Bush, was insulted by Mr Trump
during the Republican presidential primary in 2016, on the cam
paign trail George P. Bush handed out beer koozies with a quote
from Mr Trump: “This is the only Bush that likes me...I like him.” In
the end, Mr Paxton won the endorsement, probably thanks to his
willingness to use his office to challenge the 2020 election results
of four swing states in court on Mr Trump’s behalf.
Will Republican voters care whether the supposed protector of
laws follows them himself? Mr Paxton’s resilience so far suggests
they won’t. In 2014 the Texas State Securities Board fined Mr Pax
ton $1,000 for violating securities laws in soliciting investments
three times without registering as an investment adviser. Voters
shrugged and elected him as attorneygeneral anyway. A few
months after assuming office in 2015, he was indicted on three se
curitiesfraud charges, including allegedly encouraging people to
invest in a technology startup without revealing he was being
compensated. (Mr Paxton denies wrongdoing.) The federal chargesweredismissed by a judge, and the state’s case has yet to pro
ceed due to wrangling over lawyers’ fees and jurisdiction. Even
some efforts to help protect Mr Paxton have raised eyebrows. Soon
after his wife, Angela, became a state senator in 2019, she proposed
a bill to modify Texas’s securities laws so that it would no longer be
a felony for individuals to act as investment advisers without reg
istering (one of Mr Paxton’s alleged offences) and granting greater
control to the attorneygeneral’s office to oversee consumer fraud.
Bigger allegations followed. In September 2020, eight of Mr
Paxton’s deputies reported him to the fbi, accusing him of “crimi
nal bribery, tampering with government records, harassment, ob
struction of justice and abuse of office”. The deputies, several of
whom filed a lawsuit under the Whistleblower Act, said the attor
neygeneral used his office to benefit a campaign donor, Nate Paul,
who had allegedly hired a woman with whom Mr Paxton had an
extramarital affair. According to their complaint, Mr Paxton inter
vened improperly in a federal investigation into Mr Paul (who has
also denied any wrongdoing).
Mr Paxton has rejected the whistleblowers’ claims, accused
them of being “rogue employees” and has even argued that the
Whistleblower Act should not apply to him as attorneygeneral.
His own office released a 374page report in an attempt to clear
him. But a federal investigation is reported to be ongoing.
Mr Paxton’s resilience tells a broader story about politics in
Texas today. A recent poll found that only 11% of Republicans had
an unfavourable view of him, and 75% a favourable one. A differ
ent poll gives him a 42point lead over Mr Bush. This is due not
least to Mr Trump’s continued support. Although Texas helped to
send its former governor to the White House, the runoff election
for attorneygeneral is likely to result in “the imminent end of the
Bush dynasty”, argues Mark Jones, a professor at Rice University.
The Bushes are considered too establishment these days.
Mr Trump has also helped Mr Paxton in a less direct way. By
shaking trust in institutions, such as the media and law enforce
ment, Mr Trump has conditioned voters not to believe what they
hear. It’s all “fake news”, as Mr Paxton is happy to claim. This has
helped him sail through his scandals. He can accuse whistleblow
ers of being rogue, partisan employees, without primary voters
questioning whether people who had worked in his office for
years would really turn on him for political reasons. Those who re
ported him were his deputies and allies, not his enemies.Lone Star litmus
Democrats have not won a statewide office in Texas since 1994. The
election in November for attorneygeneral should, in theory, be
their best shot. Everything will hinge on whether a Democratic
candidate can woo independents and Republicans who dislike Mr
Trump and acolytes like Mr Paxton. The party would have to offer a
moderate candidate to fit Texan tastes. Joe Jaworski, an exmayor
of Galveston and grandson of the former Watergate special prose
cutor Leon Jaworski, would be the most electable Democrat state
wide, although among Democratic primary voters he is currently
polling behind the progressive candidate, Rochelle Garza. Some
Democrats are hoping that Mr Paxton may be indicted after the
primary but before the general election, giving them an edge.
Whatever happens, the race for attorneygeneral will not just
be a test of Republican primary voters’ values but of Democrats’
priorities and standing too. If they cannotwin against Mr Paxton,
Democrats’ dreams of soon turningTexasblue seem as improba
ble as finding an orphaned $1,000 pen.nLexington
Ken Paxton’s bid for re-election is a high-stakes test of Texas Republicans’ values