FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s 2023 impeachment on bribery and corruption charges has been a major liability during his U.S. Senate race this year. But one lawmaker extolled a supposed bright side.
Speaking at a rally for Paxton on Saturday, state Rep. Andy Hopper cast Paxton’s impeachment as a partisan witch hunt that helped reveal and root out Republican lawmakers who were insufficiently committed to the movement.
After he was acquitted by the state Senate of all charges, Paxton went to political war with the House Republicans who voted to impeach him. He endorsed primary challengers and stumped against incumbent state House Republicans. Nine incumbents lost their primaries that year, and eight more were forced into runoffs. Six of those incumbents lost their runoffs.
“Our state legislature tried to impeach the greatest attorney general, just like they impeached Donald Trump,” Hopper said, who was elected to office amid the purge. “And because of the hard work of Ken Paxton, who honestly was the most significant just force in my race and in so many other races, like Shelley Luther, like Mike Olcott, like Brent Money, like Katrina Pierson, to make sure that conservatives were elected in the body that impeached this man, we have now a — just a force of conservatives.”
Paxton supporters at this rally were not bothered by the impeachment, saying they were satisfied with the state Senate’s acquittal.
“I’ve been in Texas all my life, so I know a lot about things he’s done. You know, some of it’s good. Some of it, I really don’t have much to say about because he was proven innocent,” said Steve Curtis, an attendee from Runaway Bay. “He’s just a better choice than our other choice.”
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