Austin, Texas – Austin, Texas (AP) – Texas General Prosecutor Ken Paxon is preparing for a potential senate in the United States, until he is no longer overshadowed by a federal corruption investigation that hung over his rising profile in the Republican Party.
This durability will be tested against Republican Senator John Cornin if Paxon will deal with what is likely to be one of the most faithful major battles in the country 2026.
Paxon, a close ally of President Donald Trump, hinted at Cornin’s challenge for more than a year, but did not say when he would decide.
In the last weeks of the Biden Administration, the Ministry of Justice decided not to pursue its investigation on Paxton because of the allegations of bribery, according to two people familiar with the question that spoke to the Associated Press, provided for anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
Although the date of the decision was not immediately clear, it was made in the last weeks of President Joe Biden’s presidency, one of the people said.
The accusations were perhaps the most serious of many legal problems that Paxon faced after becoming a prosecutor General in 2015, including accusations of securities fraud that had been exceeding him for nearly a decade, before agreeing to pay nearly $ 300,000 dollars for restitution. The Prosecutor General also faced an investigation by the State of Texas Bar Association for his efforts to cancel the 2020 election results.
Paxon characterizes the investigation as a “fake witches” in a social media publication in response to the news on Thursday. He also held a fresh bar to Cornin.
“Be careful to comment now, John?” Paxton Posted.
Paxon declined to have an interview through a spokesman on Thursday.
Cornyn speakers did not respond immediately to telephone and email requests looking for a comment.
The quiet dismissal emphasizes the political sustainability and rise of Paxton among his party’s right in recent years, while potentially giving his opponents less fodder for political attacks.
“There are no more clouds over it,” says Bill Miller, a longtime lobbyist of Texas and a friend of Paxon.
Paxton has headed for Cornin as the senator has become one of the few prominent Republicans to criticize him. Cornin, who helped press a bilateral weapons control bill after the mass shooting in 2022 at a Primary School in Uvalde, was also previously criticized by conservative activists who have caused the party’s agenda to the right.
Cornin, who has also been the Prosecutor General of Texas, has served in the Senate since 2002 and is a popular member of the GOP conference. But Cornin lost to South Dakota Senator John Tun in a narrow candidate to become the leader of the majority in the Senate. If Paxon enters the race, it will probably be the most competitive senator’s major campaign so far.
In 2020, eight of Paxton’s closest assistants accused him of using his office to take advantage of a real estate developer in Texas, who hired a woman with whom Paxon had an extramarital affair. He was an impeach and justified in the Senate of Texas in 2023.
Nate Paul, the real estate developer, pleaded guilty to federal allegations of banks’ lie in January to receive millions of dollars loans.
___
Associated Press reporters Alana Dor Richer and Eric Tucker have contributed to this Washington report, DC Lathan is a member of the Associated Press/Report for American Statehouse News Initiative. The report on America is a non -profit national service program that raises journalists in local news halls to report insufficiently concealed issues.
