'Topsy-turvy moral universe': Ex-Texas Monthly editor assails AG Ken Paxton’s voter suppression

06 September 2024

Although Texas remains an uphill climb for Democrats in statewide races, some elections suggest they are making progress in the Lone Star State. President Joe Biden lost Texas to Donald Trump by only about 5 percent in 2020, and a University of Texas poll released in early September finds Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris trailing Trump by roughly that amount four years later.

These inroads, some Democratic strategists allege, are inspiring far-right Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Republicans to make voting more difficult.

In an article published by the Texas Monthly on September 6, journalist Christopher Hooks — known for his expertise on Lone Star politics — details Paxton's voter suppression efforts.

"Election fraud happens, of course," Hooks explains. "But the available evidence clearly shows that it's pretty rare, and far too marginal to affect election outcomes. For the last two decades, the (Texas) Attorney General's Office under Paxton and his predecessor, Greg Abbott, has tried hard to investigate and prosecute election crimes, while the (Texas) Legislature has steadily given it more tools to do so. For the most part, the attorneys general have uncovered what amount to petty crimes."

Hooks adds, "Texas Republicans could rightly brag that they have successfully secured elections in the state. But they don’t. Instead, they stir a frenzy every election year, claiming that control of the state is about to be stolen by a shadowy cabal."

Hooks reports that after Maria Bartiromo of Fox News and Fox Business tweeted voter fraud claims involving Texas, Paxton's office announced an investigation into "organizations operating in Texas" that "may be unlawfully registering noncitizens to vote."

"The frenzy built," Hooks observes. "The week after Bartiromo's tweet, Paxton’s office launched raids in Atascosa, Bexar, and Frio Counties, targeting what it alleged was a ballot-harvesting operation. The raids targeted the campaign of Cecilia Castellano, a Democratic State House candidate running in a district that Republicans hope to win in November. Authorities seized Castellano's phone and also tossed the homes of five other members of her campaign. Castellano denies that she has done anything wrong, and no charges have yet been filed."

Paxton himself has been the target of a criminal investigation. And the Texas attorney general survived an impeachment effort in the Texas State Legislature.

"An even greater irony, one that's obvious whenever Paxton starts to call out alleged wrongdoers, is that he is a wrongdoer himself," Hooks observes. "The drip-drop of stories about Paxton's crusade to save Texas democracy comes alongside a drip-drop of stories that seem to hint that a federal ethics probe of Paxton might not be dead — or that hint at the extensive and topsy-turvy moral universe of Paxtonland."

Read Christopher Hooks' full Texas Monthly article at this link.

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