At the Republican midterm convention in September, President Donald Trump backed Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate in Dallas. Trump said some may not like how Paxton dresses or talks, and called him the greatest attorney general in Texas history. Paxton has been Texas attorney general since 2015 and defeated U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in May's Republican primary runoff.
Paxton began his political career in Collin County and was first elected to the Texas House in 2002, serving five terms for the McKinney area. In 2011 he challenged Joe Straus for House speaker, as Tea Party activists argued party leaders were not conservative enough. He withdrew after a preliminary vote showed Straus had more support. Josh Blank, research director of UT Austin's Texas Politics Project, said Paxton's rise was based on courting the most conservative voters.
Paxton won election to the Texas Senate in 2012 and later won the 2014 Republican attorney general runoff against state Rep. Dan Branch. The story says he has faced scandals, criminal charges and an impeachment, and has won every election he has run in. He now faces a competitive Senate race against Democrat James Talarico, and the story notes that a conservative base may not be enough to win in November.