This article was originally published in Common Dreams under Creative Commons 3.0 license. Read the original article. Contact: editor@commondreams.org
By Jake Johnson
Ken Paxton, the scandal-plagued Texas attorney general backed by President Donald Trump, handily won a Republican US Senate primary runoff on Tuesday, ousting incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and setting up a critical race with Democratic nominee James Talarico—who wasted no time blasting Paxton’s long record of self-dealing.
“Ken Paxton embodies the broken political system that we’re running against,” Talarico, a Texas state representative, said in an MS NOW appearance following Paxton’s victory. “He is the most corrupt politician in America. Three years ago tomorrow, he was impeached by his own party for using his public office, his position of public trust, to enrich himself and his donors at our expense.”
Talarico highlighted that Paxton has been indicted on securities fraud charges and said he “has shown over and over again that he’s only concerned about himself.”
“And that is exactly the problem in our politics,” said the Democratic candidate. “It’s puppet politicians who serve themselves and their billionaire megadonors instead of serving us. It’s why we can’t afford anything. It’s why we can’t get ahead no matter how hard we work. The system is rigged by corrupt politicians like Ken Paxton. And so it’s going to be all of us. It’s going to be Democrats, independents, and Republicans. It’s going to be urban Texans, rural Texans, suburban Texans. It’s going to be all of us coming together, the people versus Ken Paxton.”
US Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, echoed Talarico, dubbing Paxton “the most corrupt politician in America” and adding, “Calling Ken Paxton just a crook is like calling Texas summers a little bit warm.”
“The guy makes Richard Nixon look like a Boy Scout,” said Casar. “We cannot allow him to become a United States Senator.”
The Texas Tribune noted in its coverage of the primary outcome that Paxton is “known for his checkered history of personal ethics and legal troubles: He was once indicted for felony securities fraud (charges that were later dropped) and impeached by the GOP-controlled Texas House for corruption and abuse of office (and acquitted by the Republican majority in the Senate). And he has come under fire for alleged infidelity and an accumulation of assets during his time in office.”
A Wall Street Journal report published last year detailed how Paxton “went from being a middle-class lawyer to a multimillionaire during his two decades on a public official’s salary.”
“Paxton, who entered state government in 2003 with a modest income and few assets, by 2018 told a lender he had amassed a net worth of about $5.5 million, not including millions in assets he and his wife had previously moved into a blind trust,” the Journal reported. “The following year, Paxton reaped an additional $2.2 million gain—never previously disclosed—from his investment in a local company with a lucrative Texas state contract.”
Talarico—who, if victorious in November, could be a decisive factor in helping Democrats retake control of the US Senate—said in his television appearance late Tuesday that Paxton “owns 11 homes while we can’t afford one.”
“Ken Paxton’s net worth went up by 7,000% while our pay has been stagnant,” he added. “This is not just about Ken Paxton—it’s about the corrupt system that he embodies, that he represents. If we can defeat the most corrupt politician in America in this year, in this race, in this state, then we can defeat this entire corrupt system.”
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