Accountability file

Record & events

• disclosure [failure-to-disclose]: Did not disclose his WatchGuard ownership on his 2008 personal financial statement filed with the Texas Ethics Commission (as of 2008) — Associated Press [cc-attribution]
• statement: Called the ~$10M Texas DPS contract that boosted WatchGuard "like a flea on an elephant" and said "I didn't even know we had contracts with the state of Texas" (as of 2014) — Texas Monthly [cc-attribution]
• charge [indicted]: Indicted on first-degree felony securities fraud (Servergy) plus a failure-to-register count (as of 2015-08) — Associated Press [cc-attribution]
• disposition: Parallel SEC civil fraud case dismissed by U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant → dismissed (as of 2016-10) — Reuters [cc-attribution]
• disposition: Counter-context for balance: the AG office did prosecute trafficking - e.g., the Backpage.com / Carl Ferrer guilty pleas → guilty pleas (as of 2018) — Office of the Texas Attorney General [cc-attribution]
• investigation: Eight of his top deputies reported him to the FBI alleging abuse of office to help donor Nate Paul; four were fired and sued under the Texas Whistleblower Act (as of 2020-10) — Associated Press [cc-attribution]
• resignation-call: U.S. Rep. Chip Roy - Paxton's former first assistant AG - publicly called on him to resign "for the good of the people of Texas" after the whistleblower bribery allegations (as of 2020-10) — The Texas Tribune [cc-attribution]
• disposition: The AG office quietly dropped a series of human-trafficking and child-sexual-assault cases after losing track of a victim; the human-trafficking division had a ~40% vacancy rate → cases dropped (as of 2022) — Associated Press [cc-attribution]
• impeachment: Impeached by the Texas House, 121-23, on articles including bribery and abuse of office → acquitted by the Texas Senate on all 16 articles (Sept 2023) (as of 2023-05-27) — The Texas Tribune [cc-attribution]
• investigation: Paxton's early WatchGuard investment and the state contracts that boosted the company were among the entanglements examined by investigators ahead of the 2023 impeachment trial (as of 2023-07) — The Dallas Morning News [cc-attribution]
• disposition [no guilty plea]: Criminal securities-fraud case ended in a pretrial agreement: ~100 hours community service, 15 hours ethics courses, ~$271,000-$300,000 restitution; no guilty plea → charges dropped (pretrial agreement) (as of 2024-03) — The Texas Tribune [cc-attribution]
• statement: Said: "There will never be a conviction in this case nor am I guilty" (as of 2024-03) — The Texas Tribune [cc-attribution]
• disposition: The Adam Hoffman (Waco) child-sex-abuse case resolved with roughly 60 days in jail; a former AG human-trafficking division chief (Kirsta Leeburg Melton) publicly criticized the handling → ~60 days (as of 2025) — KUT News [cc-attribution]
• investigation: Federal DOJ investigation into the whistleblower / Nate Paul allegations declined → declined (as of 2025-01) — Associated Press [cc-attribution]
• election: Won the Republican U.S. Senate primary runoff over incumbent John Cornyn; faces Democrat James Talarico on Nov 3, 2026 → won (primary runoff) (as of 2026-05-26) — The Texas Tribune [cc-attribution]