Ken Paxton is the 51st Attorney General of Texas, the chief legal officer for a state of 31 million people and an office that has filed more lawsuits against the federal government over the last decade than any other state AG office in the country. Paxton was first elected in 2014, sworn in in January 2015, and re-elected in 2018 and 2022. His current term runs through January 2027. He has chosen not to seek re-election as Attorney General; instead he is running in the 2026 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat held by John Cornyn, with a runoff scheduled for May 26, 2026, after neither candidate cleared 50 percent in the March 3 primary. This guide walks through how Paxton built his political and legal career, the litigation posture his office became known for, the 2023 impeachment trial and acquittal, and what his current Senate run signals for the Texas AG office going forward.

From House to AG: a fifteen-year political climb

Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. was born December 23, 1962, in Minot, North Dakota, where his father was stationed at Minot Air Force Base. He grew up in Texas, graduated from Baylor University with a B.A. in psychology in 1985 and an M.B.A. in 1986, and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1991. His biographical record on Wikipedia traces a career that started in private practice in McKinney, Texas, where he focused on estate and business planning before entering elected politics.

Paxton was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2002, representing House District 70 in Collin County for ten years through several boundary changes. In 2012, he was elected to the Texas Senate, representing Senate District 8, which covered portions of Collin and Dallas counties. He served one term in the state Senate before launching his 2014 campaign for Attorney General, defeating his Republican primary opponents and then prevailing over Democratic state Senator Sam Houston in the general election. His Ballotpedia electoral history shows the consistent margins that made him a fixture in Texas Republican primaries even through the most contentious moments of his tenure.

The Office of the Attorney General under Paxton

The Texas Office of the Attorney General represents the state in civil litigation, defends the constitutionality of Texas statutes when challenged in federal court, prosecutes certain consumer-protection and antitrust cases, runs the state’s child-support enforcement division, and offers legal opinions to state agencies and elected officials. Under Paxton, the office has been organized around a small set of priorities that he has emphasized publicly over three terms.

The most visible has been federal litigation. Paxton’s office has filed dozens of suits against the federal government across two presidential administrations, challenging environmental rules, healthcare regulations, immigration policy, federal workforce mandates, and Department of Education guidance on Title IX. The pattern has placed the Texas AG office at the front of state-driven federal litigation throughout his tenure, often paired with multistate coalitions led from Austin.

Consumer protection has been the second pillar. The office has prosecuted price-fixing and antitrust cases, brought consumer-fraud actions against companies operating in Texas, and run the statewide child-support enforcement function — one of the largest such operations of any state AG office in the country, with caseloads in the hundreds of thousands. The Election Integrity Division, established under Paxton, prosecutes alleged voter and election fraud.

The 2023 impeachment trial and acquittal

In May 2023, the Texas House of Representatives voted 121–23 to impeach Paxton on 20 articles tied to allegations that he had abused the powers of his office. The articles included claims that he had improperly intervened to protect a political donor, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, including by directing office resources toward an investigation favorable to Paul and by hiring outside counsel without proper authorization. Paxton was suspended from office pending trial in the Texas Senate. The full record of the impeachment proceedings is collected at the Texas Senate Court of Impeachment site.

The Senate trial ran from September 5 through September 16, 2023. On September 16, the Senate voted to acquit Paxton on all 16 articles that reached a vote, with the highest article tally at 14 senators voting to convict — short of the two-thirds majority of 21 required for conviction. Paxton was reinstated to the office that day. NPR’s coverage of the acquittal captured the political dynamics: most Senate Republicans voted to acquit, every Senate Democrat voted to convict on at least one article, and the trial drew national attention to the internal divisions in the Texas Republican Party. The acquittal closed the formal impeachment process; subsequent civil litigation between the Paxton office and former senior staff members who had reported him to federal authorities was resolved separately through settlement.

The 2026 U.S. Senate run

In April 2025, Paxton announced he would not seek a fourth term as Attorney General and would instead challenge incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn in the March 2026 Texas Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The primary on March 3, 2026, produced a plurality but not the majority required under Texas law for an outright primary win; with neither Cornyn nor Paxton crossing 50 percent, the race went to a runoff scheduled for May 26, 2026. The runoff narrowed to Cornyn and Paxton after the lower-polling candidates were eliminated. On May 19, 2026, former President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton in the runoff, a development widely reported as a significant boost to the Paxton campaign in the final week before voting.

The Senate race has implications for the Texas AG office itself. If Paxton wins the Senate seat in November 2026, he would be sworn in as a U.S. Senator in January 2027 — the same month his current AG term ends. Texas Republican primary voters will choose his successor in the AG race separately, with the 2026 primary already underway for that office. The successor will inherit the litigation portfolio, the staffing decisions made through Paxton’s three terms, and the institutional posture the office has built around state-versus-federal litigation.

What this matters for Texas residents

The Attorney General of Texas affects ordinary Texans in three operational ways that often get lost in the political coverage. The first is consumer protection: if a Texan is defrauded by a company doing business in the state, the AG’s Consumer Protection Division is the first stop for state-level enforcement. The second is child-support enforcement: the Child Support Division administers more than a million open cases at any given time, processing the billing, collection, and enforcement that determines whether custodial parents actually receive court-ordered support. The third is opinions and litigation positions on questions of state law that affect how state agencies, school districts, and local governments operate day to day.

None of these operational functions changes substantially based on who occupies the office. They run on statutory mandates and standing staff. The political profile of the office — what cases it chooses to file, which coalitions it joins on federal litigation, what enforcement priorities it announces — does change with the officeholder. Paxton’s tenure pushed those choices in a particular direction. The next AG will make those same choices.

For Texans who want practical guidance on legal issues touching the AG’s operational portfolio — child support enforcement, consumer fraud reporting, or open-records questions — the office’s public-facing portal at texasattorneygeneral.gov remains the primary entry point regardless of who holds the office. For Texans evaluating a Texas-based legal claim that touches federal disability benefits or other federally-administered programs, a Texas-licensed attorney familiar with the relevant agency practice is the right next call. Our Texas SSDI lawyer guide walks through the federal disability process as it operates in Texas, including the hearing offices most commonly involved.

Bottom line

Ken Paxton has been one of the most consequential and one of the most polarizing Texas Attorneys General of the last fifty years. He took office in 2015 with a Republican legislative background and a small-firm legal practice; he leaves office (whenever he leaves it) having presided over the most litigation-active period in the office’s modern history, having survived an impeachment trial that no other sitting Texas AG has faced in nearly a century, and having made the Texas AG office a national institution in state-versus-federal litigation. Whether he transitions to the U.S. Senate in 2027 or completes his AG term and exits elected office, the institutional choices he made in the AG office will shape that office for the next several years regardless of who replaces him.

Frequently asked questions

Who is the current Attorney General of Texas?

Ken Paxton has served as the Attorney General of Texas since January 2015. He was re-elected in 2018 and 2022 and his current term runs through January 2027. He is not seeking re-election as AG; he is running in the 2026 Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate against incumbent John Cornyn.

Was Ken Paxton impeached?

Yes. The Texas House voted 121–23 in May 2023 to impeach Paxton on 20 articles tied to allegations that he had abused his office. He was suspended pending trial. The Texas Senate trial ran September 5–16, 2023. On September 16, the Senate voted to acquit Paxton on all 16 articles that reached a vote, with the highest tally at 14 senators voting to convict — short of the two-thirds (21 senators) required for conviction. Paxton was reinstated to office that day.

What is Ken Paxton running for in 2026?

Paxton is running in the 2026 Republican primary for U.S. Senate against incumbent John Cornyn. The March 3, 2026 primary did not produce a majority winner, so the race went to a runoff scheduled for May 26, 2026. Former President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton in the runoff on May 19, 2026. If Paxton wins the runoff he will face the Democratic nominee in November 2026.

What does the Texas Attorney General actually do?

The Texas AG is the chief legal officer of the state. The office represents Texas in civil litigation, defends state statutes when challenged in federal court, runs the statewide child-support enforcement division, prosecutes consumer-protection and antitrust cases, issues legal opinions to state agencies and elected officials, and increasingly under Paxton has filed federal-court litigation against federal government policies. Criminal prosecutions in Texas are generally handled by elected county district attorneys, not by the AG, though the AG’s office can be appointed special prosecutor in certain cases.

How long has Ken Paxton been Texas AG?

Paxton has served as Texas Attorney General since January 5, 2015. He was elected in November 2014, defeating Democratic state Senator Sam Houston, and re-elected in 2018 (defeating Justin Nelson) and 2022 (defeating Rochelle Garza). His current and final term ends January 2027.

Sources

Featured image: photo by Clark Van Der Beken on Unsplash.

This article is general legal information about the Texas Office of the Attorney General and is not legal advice. For case-specific evaluation of a Texas legal matter, contact a Texas-licensed attorney in the relevant practice area.