State Senator Angela Paxton of Texas, the wife of the state attorney general, Ken Paxton, announced on Thursday that she had filed for divorce, saying she made her decision “on biblical grounds” and “in light of recent discoveries.”
The divorce petition, filed by Ms. Paxton in Collin County on Thursday morning, lists among the grounds for divorce: “respondent has committed adultery” and said the couple had not lived together “as spouses” since June 2024.
Mr. Paxton, in a parallel announcement on social media, said the couple had decided to “start a new chapter in our lives,” and suggested that the pressures of public life and “countless political attacks” had precipitated the rupture.
“I ask for your prayers and privacy at this time,” Mr. Paxton said.
The announcement of the divorce filing could roil Texas Republican politics, where the couple has been a fixture for years, and where Mr. Paxton’s primary challenge to United States Senator John Cornyn has already caused significant rifts ahead of the 2026 midterm campaign.
Mr. Paxton, who has courted the hard right of the Republican Party for years, has been polling ahead of the incumbent in public surveys, and he has sought to align himself firmly with President Trump and his supporters.
Democrats, in turn, have jumped at the prospect of contesting the seat, hoping that in a general election with Republicans facing headwinds, they could more easily defeat Mr. Paxton than Mr. Cornyn.
Now Mr. Paxton will also have to deal with his wife.
In her statement, Ms. Paxton said that she did “not believe it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.”
The couple, both Republicans who frequently refer to their Christian faith, have been married for 38 years, she said. During that time, Ms. Paxton stood by her husband as he faced criminal investigations into securities fraud, a federal investigation into corruption and abuse of office, and in 2023, a two-week public impeachment trial at the State Senate. She was present but not able to vote because of her conflict of interest.
A key part of the impeachment trial was the question of whether Mr. Paxton had used his office to do favors for an Austin real estate investor who had helped the attorney general conceal an extramarital affair.
At one point, toward the end of the trial, the woman at the center of the affair allegations came to the State Capitol, but she was ultimately not called to testify. She sat in a legislative library and later left the building.
Mr. Paxton was acquitted in the trial, and no federal charges were brought against him. He settled his state securities fraud by agreeing to pay restitution, take legal ethics classes and perform community service, but admitted no wrongdoing.
The nature of the “recent discoveries” alluded to by Ms. Paxton was not immediately clear. A spokesman for Mr. Paxton’s campaign declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Mr. Cornyn’s campaign.
It was not clear whether the divorce litigation would hurt the attorney general’s political standing. Among Republican voters, Mr. Paxton has enjoyed higher job approval numbers over time than Mr. Cornyn has, according to surveys from the Texas Politics Project, despite Mr. Paxton’s various legal troubles and accusations of infidelity.
But Mr. Cornyn has said the coming primary fight will be a “test of character,” hinting that there were revelations to come about his Republican opponent.
If the divorce were to become seriously politically damaging, it could help Senate Republican leaders, who have worried about sinking money a fierce primary and potentially helping Democrats in the process.
The Senate Republicans’ official campaign arm latched on to Ms. Paxton’s statement quickly.
“What Ken Paxton has put his family through is truly repulsive and disgusting,” Joanna Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement. “No one should have to endure what Angela Paxton has.”
J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
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