Ken Paxton (23 December 1962-) was Attorney General of Texas from 5 January 2015 to 27 May 2023, succeeding Greg Abbott and preceding Brent Webster.
Biography[]
Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. was born in Minot, North Dakota in 1962, the son of a US Air Force pilot stationed at the Minot Airbase. His family frequently moved around during his youth, and Paxton went to Baylor University in Waco, Texas before settling in McKinney. He worked in private practice before serving as a Republican member of the State House from 2003 to 2013 and of the Senate from 2013 to 2015. In 2015, he was elected Attorney General after the incumbent Greg Abbott was elected Governor, and Paxton became affiliated with the Tea Party movement. In 2018, he falsely claimed that illegal immigrants had committed over 600,000 crimes in Texas since 2011 (400% above the state estimate), opposed amnesty for illegal immigrants, supported Donald Trump's border wall plan, supported the Muslim ban, challenged clean power, opposed overtime pay, appointed several social conservatives and opponents of gay rights to his department, supported ExxonMobil against a climate change suit, sued Apple for antitrust violations, expanded gun rights, crusaded against voter fraud, criticized what he perceived as "anti-Christian" education at public schools, and saw Obamacare as unconstitutional. On 27 May 2023, he was impeached and suspended by the Texas House of Representatives as the result of a 2015 indictment for securities fraud and revelations of his acceptance of bribes.