Rabidly anti-LGBTQ+ attorney general announces Senate run "to fight for President Trump's agenda"

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/04/texas-rabidly-anti-lgbtq-ag-announces-run-for-u-s-senate/

By Daniel Villarreal (9 April 2025)

Texas' rabidly anti-LGBTQ+ Attorney General Ken Paxton will run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent John Cornyn (R-TX) in 2026.

Paxton was previously impeached by the Texas House in 2023 for 16 counts of bribery but was later acquitted by the Texas Senate. He also settled a state securities fraud case against him, paying $300,000 and participating in community service to avoid legal charges.

During his tenure as state attorney general, Paxton has said consensual encounters between consenting same-sex adults should be illegal and that state workers can deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He has argued that doctors should be allowed to deny care to transgender patients and that it should be legal to discriminate against trans people at work, and he has tried to force a school to cancel its Pride week. He also tried to prosecute gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth as a form of "child abuse" (something that hindered the state's ability to investigate actual child abuse).

Paxton has sued for the right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students, sued a group that highlighted the rise in hate speech on Elon Musk's social media platform X, and recently sued the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) to force it to inspect every athlete's gender before allowing them to play. He has also been trying to compile a list of trans Texans and to obtain trans people's medical records from other states.

Paxton has a lot of support in grass roots Texas Republicans.    Cornyn will likely face an incredibly hard primary race against Paxton.  The politicing has already started.  The next 12 months will be telling.  Texas is increasingly red as people move for political purposes. 

The divides between states are growing more pronounced.  I like lower taxes found in red states. Other policy has issues.