Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has taken about 350 trips outside the state with a taxpayer-funded security detail since 2015, including 25 to foreign countries such as South Africa, India and Aruba, according to a new analysis.
The New York Times found that security costs alone have topped $3.1 million and peaked at more than $483,000 in 2024. State records don’t say whether any trip was official business, and Texas law doesn’t require it to be. Paxton has visited nearly 225 cities, with repeat trips to destinations like New Orleans and Park City, Utah.
“Business or pleasure — security detail goes,” said Arnold Alejandro, a former member of the state security detail. “I don’t care if it’s the Bahamas on vacation in a bikini or Washington, D.C.”
A recent ProPublica investigation found records showing a work-related purpose for only one in six of the locations logged by Paxton’s security team.
Former aides described a pattern. David Maxwell, Paxton’s former director of law enforcement, accused him of charging a $600 sport coat from a hotel gift shop to a conference organizer.
“He always had his hand out,” Maxwell said.
Another former top aide, Blake Brickman, told investigators: “He always cared about what trip he was going on, who was taking him to dinner. He likes the perks of the office.”
Taxpayers covered $13,235 in security when Paxton went to the Kentucky Derby in May 2024. There, he was photographed with Tracy Duhon, an aspiring Christian influencer he is now dating. A month later, he and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, separated. Her divorce petition later accused him of adultery.
Some of his trips didn’t show up in state logs at all. In 2024, Paxton rang in the new year in Dubai with two fugitives wanted on federal fraud charges, according to a lawsuit and video from the party. His campaign didn’t say who paid for that trip.
Wealthy friends have also helped out. They contributed $730,000 toward his legal bills in a securities fraud case and treated him to hunting and fishing trips, flights, lodging and tickets to events including the Grammy Awards. His real estate holdings now include at least 15 properties worth about $9 million.
His Democratic Senate opponent, James Talarico, has made the lifestyle a central attack.
“He became a multimillionaire on a government salary,” Talarico said. “He takes lavish vacations in Iceland while Texans can’t afford the basics.”
Polls show a tight race. Chris Toth, a longtime official at the National Association of Attorneys General, called Paxton’s travel “incredibly excessive” and “beyond the pale.”
Paxton’s campaign and office didn’t respond to the Times’ questions. He has long denied wrongdoing, and the Department of Public Safety called the security costs “appropriate.”
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