Ken Paxton’s Christian identity politics obscure a history of scandal | Sidney Blumenthal
The Texas Senate candidate rose to power as a culture warrior. His record is a marriage of hypocrisy and cynicism Ken Paxton’s political career, more than that of any other Republican candidate campaigning in this cycle, charts the arc of the religious right. The most influential of its activists and donors engineered his rise as a culture warrior at each of its phases from his creation through…
Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate for Texas Senate, has risen to prominence as a culture warrior, his political career intricately tied to the religious right. This trajectory is marked by a series of scandals that have followed him throughout his career. The most influential activists and donors within the religious right played a crucial role in his ascent, using him as a pawn in their crusade.
Now, as he faces the culmination of his ambition in the Senate race, Paxton's record of financial and sexual scandals threatens to overshadow his Christian identity politics, which he employs as a shield to deflect attention from his own liabilities. The 20 articles of impeachment adopted by the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives in May 2023 are a stark reminder of the depth of his transgressions, eclipsing even the Ten Commandments that he advocates for display in every Texas classroom.
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