Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took about 350 trips outside the state since 2015 using taxpayer-funded security. His Democratic rival, James Talarico, said, "Ken Paxton doesn't serve us -- he serves himself." Records showed Paxton also got help from wealthy friends for legal bills and luxury trips during his Senate campaign.
Mr. Paxton, the Republican candidate for Senate in Texas, has taken about 350 trips outside of the state since he was sworn in as attorney general.
Where in the world is Ken Paxton?
In 2021, Mr. Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, and his wife left town for Utah during a deadly winter storm that left millions in his home state without power. When lawyers tried to depose him in a securities-fraud case in 2023, he was roving around Europe. And this past summer, in the middle of his hotly contested U.S. Senate campaign, a British tabloid spotted Mr. Paxton in Iceland and London.
Since his 2015 swearing-in as the state's top lawyer, Mr. Paxton has taken about 350 trips outside of Texas with a taxpayer-funded security detail, including 25 to foreign countries such as South Africa, India and Aruba, according to a New York Times analysis of data from the Texas Department of Public Safety. Texas law does not limit Mr. Paxton's use of state-sponsored protection to official business.
Mr. Paxton also has benefited from the largess of wealthy friends, who donated $730,000 toward his legal bills in the securities-fraud case and have treated him to hunting and fishing trips, airplane flights and lodging, and tickets to various events, including the Grammy Awards, records show.
Mr. Paxton's Democratic rival, James Talarico, has sought to turn the attorney general's lifestyle into a liability, repeatedly accusing him of exploiting the perks of his office to enrich himself. Mr. Talarico, a state representative, has dinged Mr. Paxton on his apparent affinity for luxuries big and small -- from his real estate portfolio that includes at least 15 properties worth about $9 million to the $1,000 pen he once swiped from a courthouse security tray. Polls indicate a tight race in a conservative state that hasn't elected a Democrat in more than three decades, suggesting that Mr. Talarico's attacks may be resonating with some voters.
"He became a multimillionaire on a government salary," Mr. Talarico said in a widely viewed social media post. "He takes lavish vacations in Iceland while Texans can't afford the basics. Ken Paxton doesn't serve us -- he serves himself."
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