Ken Paxton

 

Texas’ 51st attorney general, Ken Paxton, is known for his principled and uncompromising devotion to America’s founding values, and as a man who has demonstrated enormous political courage throughout his service to Texas.

The son of an Air Force veteran, General Paxton is a stalwart leader with an abiding passion and deep-seated respect for our U.S. Constitution.

In his first year in office, General Paxton hit the ground running, filing eight lawsuits against the federal government to protect Texas sovereignty on environmental issues, health care, religious freedom and immigration. The lawsuit he led for a 26-state coalition stopped President Obama’s illegal immigration plan in its tracks, winning in federal courts three times.

He also launched a new unit targeting human traffickers in Texas, fought for the rights of consumers against unscrupulous companies and institutions, and protected the privacy rights of Texans during the RadioShack bankruptcy hearings.

While serving in both chambers of the Texas Legislature, General Paxton worked to protect the 10th Amendment, defending Texas’ state sovereignty. He co-sponsored and defended Texas’ Voter ID bill, and has been a prominent voice in the defense of religious liberty and the protection of the unborn.

A defender of our free enterprise system, General Paxton has worked to make Texas a beacon of economic prosperity, opposing burdensome government regulations that harm Texas jobs and stunt economic growth.

Ken Paxton was born December 23, 1962, in Minot, N.D., while his father was stationed at Minot Air Force Base. He graduated from Baylor University, where he served as student body president, earning a B.A. in psychology in 1985 and an M.B.A. in 1986.

In 1991, he earned a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, founded by Thomas Jefferson. After law school, he joined the firm of Strasburger & Price, LLP, and later served as in-house counsel for J.C. Penney Company.

First elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2002, General Paxton represented House District 70 for 10 years, one of the fastest-growing regions in the state. In 2012, he was elected to the Texas State Senate, representing Senate District 8 in Collin and Dallas counties.

He met his wife Angela, a guidance counselor at Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco, while they were students at Baylor. The Paxtons have four children: Tucker, Abby, Mattie, and Katie. They are members of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.

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Attorney General Paxton is focused on protecting Texans and upholding Texas laws and the Constitution. Fighting federal overreach, he filed 27 lawsuits against the Obama administration during a two-year stretch, of which six were heard in the U.S. Supreme Court. He's obtained an injunction or other winning ruling in more than 75 percent of the cases he's brought against the federal government. 

During his tenure in office, Attorney General Paxton has won major cases for Texas on immigration, school rights, Environmental Protection Agency rules and religious freedom. Stopping the EPA's “Waters of the United States” rule preserved Texans' ability to regulate their own natural resources, including ponds, puddles and streams on private property. Businesses were protected and jobs preserved in Texas when Attorney General Paxton prevailed against the Department of Labor’s “Overtime” rule. Attorney General Paxton led a successful multistate coalition against the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which would have increased consumer prices for electricity and weakened the power grid in Texas. Most recently, a U.S. District Court agreed with his 20-state coalition lawsuit holding Obamacare unconstitutional. His office has also obtained a record number of successful election fraud convictions with over 500 offenses pending prosecution and almost 400 ongoing investigations.

Attorney General Paxton led several nationwide lawsuits against deceptive opioid marketing, advertisements and programs while ensuring that recovered funds were properly directed to aid Texans suffering from opioid abuse and misuse and their families. Amidst ongoing lawsuits against Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson, additional litigation has already resulted in a $1.6 billion settlement with Mallinckrodt, the largest generic opioid manufacturer in the world, and a $38.4 million settlement with McKinsey, a leading opioid marketing consultant that provided consulting services to OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma for more than 15 years. Attorney General Paxton has also been aggressive in his approach to protecting the health and safety of Texans from illegal synthetic drugs. His office has filed more than a dozen lawsuits to block the sale of synthetic cannabinoids (known as Kush and Spice) in Texas. The agency’s website provides Texans with the information and resources they need to become fully informed about the dangers of synthetic drugs and the opioid painkiller abuse crisis.

Attorney General Paxton graduated from Baylor University, where he served as student body president, earning a B.A. in psychology and an M.B.A.  After receiving a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, he worked as an attorney at Strasburger & Price, LLP, in-house counsel for J.C. Penney Company, and headed up his own law firm for 14 years in McKinney.

First elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2002, Attorney General Paxton represented House District 70 for 10 years, one of the fastest-growing regions in the state. In 2012, he was elected to the Texas state Senate, representing Senate District 8 in Collin and Dallas counties.

He met his wife Angela while they were students at Baylor. She is the state Senator for  District 8 and a former teacher and guidance counselor at Legacy Christian Academy in Frisco. The Paxtons have four children: Tucker, Abby, Mattie and Katie, and they welcomed their first grandchild in 2020 and their second in 2022. They are members of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano.