Crusading MAGA firebrand Ken Paxton, who built a career hunting down alleged voter fraud, may have committed some of his own—six times over, according to a report.
The Texas Attorney General, 63, who is President Donald Trump’s pick for the Senate in the state, appears to have cast ballots in six elections over the past two years using an address where he no longer lives, according to a story published Tuesday in ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, which obtained the records. Three election lawyers told the news organizations he may have broken the same laws his office publicly warned voters about.
The alleged offense is not minor. Voting while ineligible is a second-degree felony in Texas, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, the outlets reported—though prosecutors rarely pursue such cases because residency is hard to prove.
If true, the hypocrisy would be stark, as Paxton’s own office wrote the rules he appears to have flouted. Two weeks before this year’s primaries, he unveiled a voter fraud tip line and published guidance stating, as ProPublica reported, that “it is illegal to misrepresent your residence on election records.” His guidance added: “You must register to vote using the address where you reside.”
The fresh scandal is linked to the divorce proceedings that Paxton is struggling to shake.
His estranged wife, State Sen. Angela Paxton, 62, said in a 2025 divorce filing that he moved out of their Collin County home a year earlier after she accused him of adultery.
Yet he continues to list that address on his voter registration, according to the report. A source close to the couple told the news organizations he never moved back.
Since February, Paxton has voted twice in Collin County—once in the March Republican primary, and once in May’s runoff, which crowned him the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate.
Reporters have linked him to a $2.4 million, 5,000-square-foot home in a gated Denton County community that was bought by a trust in mid-February, according to ProPublica. When a reporter dropped a letter at the property, an envelope addressed to “Warren Paxton”—his given name—was visible in the mailbox. A June podcast appearance also showed Paxton parked in front of a fireplace that matched the home’s real estate listing.
David Becker, a former Justice Department voting rights lawyer, told ProPublica the situation was especially damning given Paxton’s day job. “Certainly, the chief law enforcement officer of the state of Texas, someone who has made claims about election integrity... should be charged with knowing the laws of residencies,” Becker said.
Attorney Clark Birdsall, who once defended a client Paxton prosecuted for illegal voting, was blunter, telling the news organizations it was “especially egregious that someone such as Ken Paxton appears he’s not conforming to the law.”
Paxton’s living arrangements have already provided plenty of interest. As the Daily Beast reported, the candidate spent the Fourth of July weekend gallivanting around Europe with his mistress, Christian influencer Tracy Duhon, 58—sightseeing near the London Eye while Americans marked 250 years of independence from Britain.
His Democratic Senate opponent, Rep. James Talarico, 37, used it for his own political ends. “Americans celebrated 250 years of independence from Britain this weekend,” Talarico’s campaign wrote. “Ken Paxton spent it with the British.”
Paxton’s campaign did not answer the news organizations’ questions. Spokesperson Madison Cercy instead called the report a “baseless, lie-filled tabloid story” and insisted the AG has “a long record of defending Texas elections.” Asked twice to identify what was inaccurate, the campaign went quiet.
Paxton has weathered worse. His 2023 impeachment on bribery and abuse-of-office charges ended in acquittal by the Texas Senate, and Trump endorsed him anyway, hailing him as “someone who has always been extremely loyal to me and our AMAZING MAGA MOVEMENT.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Paxton via the Texas attorney general’s office, and Talarico’s campaign for comment.
