The Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas is trying to turn a key argument from his Republican opponent against him — alleging that Attorney General Ken Paxton is guilty of the same type of voter fraud he spent years trying to eliminate.
“As our state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton embarked on a witch hunt for voter fraud,” state Rep. James Talarico, who is challenging Paxton in the race to replace U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, said at a campaign event in Houston. “It turned out he was committing voter fraud the whole time, voting illegally in six consecutive elections from the wrong address. »
Talarico’s comments come after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune revealed that Paxton moved out of the home he shared with his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, in 2024 but continued to vote using that address, including in the March Republican primary in which he defeated Cornyn. Three election experts told news organizations that Paxton may have violated state law.
Last week, the Collin County Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Texas Secretary of State, urging that office to investigate Paxton for election fraud.
Paxton has repeatedly refused to answer editorial questions about his voter registration and residency. On Tuesday, he held a rare news conference to tout the support of nearly two dozen sheriffs and attacked Talarico as being soft on crime. Talarico denied the accusation during his own news conference Wednesday, saying he voted for billions of dollars in funding for law enforcement as a member of the Legislature.
When a Dallas Morning News political writer asked Paxton why he voted in Collin County, the attorney general shook his head as a campaign aide interceded.
“Today we’re just going to answer questions about law enforcement,” the aide said.
Paxton’s office and campaign did not respond Thursday to similar questions from ProPublica and the Tribune. They also did not respond to questions about Talarico’s comments.
The fact that Paxton has voted in six elections from an address where he appears not to live may resonate with voters because it reinforces critics’ long-standing accusations that he used his office for personal gain, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University. That was the central theme of the Texas Legislature’s 2023 impeachment of Paxton on charges of bribery and corruption. The state Senate voted to acquit Paxton.
“He was able to escape a whole bunch of legal challenges, but voters are at least vaguely aware of that,” Jillson said. The latest reporting about his election practices “is just another example of playing fast and loose with a law that you need to know as attorney general,” Jillson said.
Texas law allows voters to vote temporarily using an address where they do not reside, provided they intend to return. Election lawyers told newsrooms it was unlikely Paxton could make such an argument given his ongoing public and acrimonious divorce. (Examples of reasons considered valid include attending an out-of-area college or serving in the military.)
It is unclear what will happen with the complaint filed against Paxton.
State law requires the secretary to “promptly” forward complaints to the attorney general if “there is reasonable cause to suspect that criminal conduct has occurred.”
Secretary of State Jane Nelson’s last day in office was Friday, three days after the complaint was filed. Governor Greg Abbott named one of his senior advisers, Robert Howden, to replace her. The office continues to refuse to answer reporters’ questions, but Collin County Democratic Party Vice Chair Mary Higbe said the secretary of state told her in an email Thursday that the complaint “remains under review by one of our attorneys.”
The attorney general’s office did not respond to questions about whether it had received the complaint or whether it would hire a special prosecutor to investigate, given that it is the attorney general himself.
The silence from the Republican-led state government suggests an attempt to slow down the investigation into Paxton, said Jon Taylor, a political science professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. He said it’s difficult to square with the rhetoric from Paxton and the secretary of state’s office that securing elections in Texas is a top priority.
“You emphasize the idea that you’re going to be very tough on wrongdoing in the election, and yet you end up with allegations that you don’t seem to want to pursue,” Taylor said. “This smacks of complete hypocrisy.”
