Foiled Impeachment Could Set Stage
for Paxton Tag Team Ticket in 2026
Capitol Inside
September 29, 2023
After fancying themselves for months as courageous patriots in a historic quest for the truth, Texas House Republican leaders could get a glimpse of their actual handiwork in action if Attorney General Ken Paxton and State Senator Angela Paxton are leading the GOP ticket in 2026 in the top two spots.
After predicting Paxton acquittal during the first week of the Senate impeachment trial's first week, Capitol Inside envisions a U.S. Senate race in the making for the attorney general three years from now. But the crystal ball sees Paxton the vindicated attorney general deferring to his wife in the most important race on the ballot as the family's designated candidate for governor.
A Paxton and Paxton pairing at the top of the ballot would have been unfathomable a month ago. The attorney general and his wife would have been candidates for re-election at best if House Republicans would have left him alone. But the impeachment has given them a launching pad on a silver platter for possible rocket rides to the Texas ballot's pinnacle in the next statewide election. And Angela may have the best shot at governor after a stoic performance as the loyal and forgiving wife and mother who was eager to be there on the floor every day to have her family's back when others were calling her husband a crook who'd cheated on her off and on with a girlfriend.
The threat of Paxton the lawmaker as a challenger could cause Governor Greg Abbott considerable angst as someone who's never faced a Serious primary threat. The suburban senator could all the more frightening with Donald Trump in her camp and possibly Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick as well.
House Republicans who voted to impeach are having visions of a three-headed monster coming for them with Trump, Patrick and the AG as a potential U.S. Senate nominee on a Paxton family revenge tour. But House GOP members have yet to acknowledge the extent of the damage they may have done to themselves with a helter skelter impeachment that unfolded more like an ambush that was dead on arrival in the Senate despite the heroic self-portrayals from House Republicans who failed to anticipate the inevitable.
Paxton the state lawyer would be a lightning rod in the governor's race. But the senator in the family doesn't have the baggage that the AG will have to overcome in an expected bid for higher office. Paxton appeared to be positioning himself for a possible federal race when he took shots at U.S. Senator John Cornyn shortly after the state Senate set him free.
Cornyn has been the most unpopular statewide official in Texas in the polls due in large part to weaker support within the GOP. Cornyn has earned a reputation that's considerably less conservative than the state's other marquee officials. Donald Trump has attacked Cornyn as an ineffective liberal - and the Texan has countered by saying he doesn't think the GOP can win as the nominee in 2024.
Paxton would expect to be a substantial favorite in a duel with Cornyn if the incumbent doesn't bow out. Angela Paxton as a challenger would be a nightmare for Abbott given the massive momentum that the couple has as newly-minted martyrs courtesy of the House.
Only 24 percent of GOP voters supported Paxton's impeachment in a Texas Politics Project poll before the trial. The verdict's effect on Paxton's polling numbers could be dramatic. But the Paxtons have received publicity and name identification that's immeasurable - and Angela Paxton's stock has skyrocketed even more as her husband's most valuable supporter out of Trump.
Paxton has the potential to implode with major problems still dogging him. But the House has created a a budding new superstar in the controversial attorney general's wife. While Angela Paxton would be in the statewide conversation without the impeachment as a springboard, she could be highly viable now in a statewide contest even if her husband isn't along for the ride. But the two could be lethal as a team.
James and Miriam Ferguson could be taking a back seat to Ma and Pa Paxton in the competition for all-time Texas power couple as one of the more significant potential pieces of history that House Republicans have left in their wake.
more to come ... |
