Paxton Team Gives Democrats New Shots
to Milk Impeachment GOP Leaders Directed
Capitol Inside
September 7, 2026
As Republicans geared up for President Donald Trump's midterm rally in Dallas this week, Ken Paxton's camp gave Democrats a golden opening for an easy attack on Monday when it castigated James Talarico for voting for the state lawyer's impeachment while ignoring the fact that Texas House GOP leaders engineered it.
Houston attorney Tony Buzbee - the leader of the AG's defense team during the impeachment ordeal - sparked a social media flurry when he reminisced on how he'd predicted the ending of the case with Paxton's acquittal in the Texas Senate.
"All you naysayers who have written off Ken Paxton and are writing his epitaph clearly don’t know Ken Paxton," Buzbee said in a post on X. "When he hired me to defend him in the sham impeachment, I said it directly to him then and it bears repeating now. “You will beat this impeachment.” (Which he did) “And you will be the next US senator from Texas.”
Buzbee's reflections gave Talarico a new incentive to recirculate a video that shows Paxton's other top defense lawyer for the impeachment saga, Dan Cogdell, endorsing the Democrat for the Texas Senate seat. Cogdell represented Paxton when he'd been under indictment for securities fraud - and he served as one of the AG's three main defense attorneys during the impeachment saga. Cogdell said Paxton had "lost sight of his core mission" when he threw his support to Talarico for the Senate battle here.
Paxton's senior advisor Michelle Smith handed the Democrats another round of ammunition when she repost the Buzbee prophesy retelling and decried Talarico for seeking to perpetuate a grave injustice by attempting to incarcerate people for crimes they did not commit.
"Truth!! Love this," Smith exclaimed. "@TonyBuzbee2 and @realmitchlittle showed every day why this impeachment was a sham. If you didn’t watch it you are believing a lie. He was ACQUITTED!! Stop believing the lies. @jamestalarico voted to impeach an innocent man. So he doesn’t believe what the constitution says that we are all innocent until PROVEN guilty. He wants innocent people to go to jail."
Republican State Rep. Mitch Little of Lewisville was one of Buzbee's top two supporting lawyers during the Senate trial that set the stage for his first Texas House race the following year. Little won a seat in the House in 2024 after unseating an incumbent who Governor Greg Abbott supported in the primary election in a Denton County race. Little delivered one of the strongest performances for a freshman in the regular and special sessions in 2025.
But Buzbee stole the show during Paxton's trial - taking the House case against him apart methodically day by day. The verdict that reinstated Paxton after a suspension for several months was a testament to Buzbee's skills as a courtroom orator. Buzbee couldn't read the future as well when it pertained to himself - having sought to ride the momentum from the impeachment victory in a Houston City Council race that he lost several months after the trial ended.
Veteran Democratic activist Matt Angle took a shot at Buzbee on Monday in a response to the gloating claim about the prophesy in the Paxton impeachment fight. "Yea, @tonybuzbe is a very good lawyer - especially when the judge gets $3M from his client's friends," Angle said on X. "But he's a lousy politician & pundit. He's run for Houston mayor once & the city council twice. Spent well over $12M of his own $. Got his clock cleaned each time."
Buzbee appeared to be trying to disspell growing speculation that Paxton couldn't win as a consequence of Talarico's superiority up to now in every conceivable phase of the competition. But the Paxton attorney's story about the acquittal decision prophesy make it possible for Talarico and the Democrats to milk the case for added value by reminding voters who was actually the most responsible for the saga.
Talarico did vote to impeach Paxton indeed. But House Republicans instigated the impeachment with a secret investigation and a vote that was taken just days after the probe become public. Outgoing House Republican Dade Phelan was in his second term as the speaker at time. The chamber's current leader - Speaker Dustin Burrows of Lubbock - was one of the highest-ranking lieutenants on the speaker's team that conceived the case against Paxton in a chamber where 60 Republicans teamed with Democrats with votes to impeach.
After backing the attempt to kill Paxton's political career, Burrows is urging voters now to support the attorney general in the U.S. Senate race. Some of Burrows' most powerful allies like GOP State Reps. Jeff Leach of Allen and Charlie Geren of Fort Worth served on the board of managers that oversaw Paxton's prosecution in the Senate. Leach delivered a closing argument that revolves on a personal account of Paxton breaking bad after a promotion to statewide office. But Leach introduced Paxton at a rally this summer in a move that made it appear like he was ready to bury the hatchet for the good of the GOP.
One of Paxton's most vocal supporters - the Reverend Jordan Wells of the Liberty Learning Institute - Burrows sought to make on Monday why Paxton's impeachment should not be held against him in the Texas Senate race.
"The Texas House impeached Ken Paxton on 20 articles in 2023," Wells wrote in a post on X. "The Senate then conducted a trial on 16 of those articles—and on every single article, Paxton was ACQUITTED. No article even received the 21 votes required for conviction. Yet his political opponents continue trying to use the word “impeached” as if it means “convicted.” It doesn’t."
more to come ...
RNC Midterm Convention Speakers
Keynotes 9
President Trump, Night One Keynote Address and Night Two Closing Remarks
Vice President Vance, Night Two Keynote Address
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Attorney General Todd Blanche
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz
HUD Secretary Scott Turner
Former press secretary Karoline Leavitt
Donald Trump Jr.
Republican Leadership 8
Speaker Mike Johnson
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso
Senator Tim Scott, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer
House Republican Conference Chair Lisa McClain
NRCC Chair Richard Hudson
Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters
Elected Officials 18
Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas)
Sen. Jon Husted (Ohio)
Sen. Dave McCormick (Pa.)
Gov. Greg Abbott (Texas)
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
Texas Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton
Rep. Rob Bresnahan (Pa.)
Georgia Senate candidate Rep. Mike Collins
Rep. Monica De La Cruz (Texas)
Florida governor candidate Rep. Byron Donalds
Rep. Brandon Gill (Texas)
Rep. Brian Jack (Ga.)
Rep. Mike Lawler (N.Y.)
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.)
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.)
Rep. Jason Smith (Mo.)
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (Wis.)
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson
Candidates 12
Captain Mike Bouchard Jr., Candidate for U.S. House (MI-10)
Laurie Buckhout, Candidate for U.S. House (NC-01)
Greg Cunningham, Candidate for U.S. House (NM-02)
Jay Feely, Candidate for U.S. House (AZ-01)
Eric Flores, Candidate for U.S. House (TX-34)
Carlos De La Cruz, Candidate for U.S. House (TX-35)
Mike LiPetri, Candidate for U.S. House (NY-03)
Derek Merrin, Candidate for U.S. House (OH-09)
Marty O'Donnell, Candidate for U.S. House (NV-03)
Mike Rogers, Candidate for U.S. Senate (MI)
Tano Tijerina, Candidate for U.S. House (TX-28)
Michael Whatley, Candidate for U.S. Senate (NC)
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