Do we like Ken Paxton?
Our score: 2 out of 10. A pattern of using the attorney general's office against trans people and a long run of rated-false claims, with only some big-tech privacy wins to set against it.
Paxton has been Texas's top lawyer since 2015, so he has had twelve years of headlines, and most of them have been about him rather than his cases. The details of his early life didn't turn up in the pages we could open, so the story here starts where the trouble does: with an indictment the same year he took the job.
In 2015 a grand jury indicted him on felony securities charges. Prosecutors alleged he recruited more than $840,000 from investors without telling them the startup was paying him, and his lawyers called it a political smear campaign. In 2024 he struck an 18-month pretrial deal: nearly $300,000 in restitution, community service and ethics classes, with no admission of guilt. He said, “There will never be a conviction in this case nor am I guilty.”
Then came the whistleblowers. Seven senior staff reported him to federal investigators, alleging he misused his office to help donor Nate Paul. Four of them were fired and sued. In April 2025 a Travis County judge found his office violated the Texas Whistleblower Act and awarded about $6.6 million, and the office hadn't disputed the facts. Paxton called it “a ridiculous judgment that is not based on the facts or the law” and said he'd appeal; we found no appeal result. The Texas House impeached him in 2023 on articles including bribery, and the Senate acquitted him that September.
On the harm test, his own words and acts are the problem. In 2024 his office sent PFLAG demand letters seeking records tied to transgender care; PFLAG sued, calling it overreach. In May 2026 his office announced a settlement making Texas Children's Hospital fire five doctors, pay $10 million and open a detransition clinic, and he called the day “a monumental day in the fight to stop the radical transgender movement.” The hospital said it settled to avoid endless litigation.
The latest mess landed in October, when the Wall Street Journal reported video of him at a Dubai New Year's Eve party with two men who were indicted in the US over alleged fraud. One of them had given him $190,000 in donations. His adviser didn't address the trip directly and said voters had seen through years of political persecution. Both men are presumed innocent.
The good stuff is thin, but real. His office won a $1.375 billion privacy settlement from Google in 2025, and he said, “In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law.” Google admitted no wrongdoing. That's honestly the whole verified list, and it doesn't offset the rest. In fairness, he conceded gracefully, saying he'd be praying Talarico does good for Texas.