Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton built a conservative following before Donald Trump entered politics, and he is now relying on that support in a competitive U.S. Senate race. Trump backed Paxton at the Republican National Committee's midterm convention in Dallas in September. Trump praised Paxton as the greatest attorney general in Texas history, while also commenting on his appearance and way of speaking.
Paxton has served as attorney general since 2015. He has faced scandals, criminal charges and an impeachment during his career, and he has won every election he has run in, including defeating U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the May Republican primary runoff. He is now running against Democrat James Talarico.
Paxton first won a seat in the Texas House in 2002 and served five terms representing the McKinney area. In 2011, he challenged Republican House Speaker Joe Straus as Tea Party activists argued party leaders were not conservative enough. He withdrew after a preliminary vote showed Straus had more support. Josh Blank of UT Austin's Texas Politics Project said that challenge helped Paxton build support among conservative voters, and that his rise has been based on courting the most conservative voters.