Texas Republicans Impeached Ken Paxton Over Alleged Bribery and Corruption. Now He’s Running for Senate.

In May 2023, the Texas House voted 121-23 to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, the first impeachment of a Texas attorney general. 60 Republicans supported the impeachment. The case behind the vote had been building for nearly three years, centered on a wealthy Austin real estate developer and what Paxton's own senior staff alleged was a years-long misuse of the attorney general's office.

When eight of Paxton's most senior aides reported him to the FBI in fall 2020, their allegations were specific: Paxton had used the resources and authority of his office to benefit Nate Paul, who had donated $25,000 to Paxton's 2018 campaign and was himself under federal investigation.

Paul had been featured in Forbes in 2017 as a "Texas Tycoon" managing a real estate portfolio across 17 states. By 2020 the FBI had raided his home and offices. Paxton's aides, who included First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer and multiple deputy attorneys general, alleged their boss had continued helping Paul despite knowing he was under federal scrutiny.

The favors they documented were concrete. Paxton directed staff to issue rushed legal opinions blocking foreclosure sales of Paul's properties. He shared confidential law enforcement records with Paul. He hired an outside attorney, using state resources, to investigate Paul's business rivals. The staff time directed toward Paul's interests cost at least $72,000 in labor. Paul, in turn, paid for renovations to Paxton's Austin home and employed a woman with whom Paxton acknowledged having an extramarital affair. Paxton and Paul also shared an Uber account under a pseudonym.

House impeachment managers later described the arrangement as Paxton having "turned the keys" of the attorney general's office over to Paul.

All eight whistleblowers were fired or forced to resign after their FBI report. Four of them (Blake Brickman, Mark Penley, David Maxwell, and Ryan Vassar) sued under the Texas Whistleblower Act. In February 2023, Paxton agreed to a $3.3 million settlement with the four former aides, to be paid with Texas taxpayer funds. He also agreed to retract his description of them as "rogue employees." The settlement negotiations, which required approval from the Texas Legislature, prompted the House to open a formal investigation.

Paul was indicted on federal bank fraud charges in June 2023, accused of providing false financial information to secure more than $172 million in loans. In January 2025, Paul pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to a financial institution. A judge sentenced him to time already served, four months of home confinement, five years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine.

Prior to this, in 2015 Paxton was indicted on charges of securities fraud after allegedly defrauding investors. The charges came after Paxton, in his time in the state Senate, allegedly recruited investors for Texas-based company Servergy while failing to disclose that he was secretly making a commission off of their investments. Servergy was charged with fraud by the SEC in 2016 and later went bankrupt. Paxton was also charged with civil fraud by the SEC. This led to a 9 year legal battle which ended when Paxton paid out $300,000 in restitution.