Paxton's Own Whistleblower Just Filmed an Ad for the Other Guy

Loyalty is a currency in Texas politics, and Ken Paxton is discovering the exchange rate on betrayal.

Start with the man who used to run law enforcement inside Paxton's own office. David Maxwell served as the Texas attorney general's director of law enforcement until 2020, when he was fired after coming forward with damning allegations that formed the center of Paxton's impeachment trial. Now Maxwell is staring into a camera in a Democratic campaign ad. "Ken Paxton ended my five-decade career because I blew the whistle on his corruption," he says. The kicker lands like a boot: "I've never asked a crook whom I was investigating if he was a Democrat or a Republican." That ad dropped September 9.

Maxwell wasn't a lone defector. He was the advance guard. On Thursday, Democratic nominee James Talarico rolled out the receipts: 21 current and former Republican officials and party figures endorsing his campaign against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas. They call themselves Republicans for Talarico, and the roster is not a collection of nobodies. The group includes former Dallas Mayor Steve Bartlett, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, and retired Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips.

They are not shy about why. Several cited Paxton directly as their reason for crossing party lines. A Bryan city councilman put it in the language Paxton built his brand on: "As a Republican, I believe in faith, family, the rule of law, and holding public officials accountable when they betray the public trust. I will support plenty of Republicans this November, but I cannot vote for Ken Paxton." When a man's own church-and-country vocabulary gets turned into a weapon against him, that is not a messaging problem. That is a character verdict.

Here's the history the defectors keep pointing at. Paxton was impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House in 2023 over allegations that he abused his office to assist political donor and real estate developer Nate Paul. The Texas Senate later acquitted him of all 16 articles considered at trial, and Paxton has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. Maxwell was one of the senior officials who reported Paxton to the FBI back in 2020. He was not thanked. He was shown the door.

Now watch the numbers, because they explain the panic. In the race for Senate, Democrat James Talarico holds a narrow 4-point lead, 48% to 44%, over Republican Ken Paxton. That is not some partisan push-poll, either. The survey was conducted in part by Fabrizio Ward, led by Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio, who served as Trump's pollster during his presidential campaigns. And the personal numbers are worse than the horse race: Talarico's net favorability stood at +7, while Paxton's stood at minus 11, with 46 percent viewing Paxton unfavorably and only 35 percent viewing him favorably.

This was supposed to be the safest seat in the country. Texas has not had a Democratic senator in office since 1993. Paxton beat a four-term incumbent in the primary on Trump's endorsement, and the reward is a general election where his own former investigator, his own impeachment lawyer, and two dozen Republicans are lining up to bury him. The strategy against him is refreshingly simple. Talarico laid out a clear plan: litigating Paxton's scandals to a weary electorate.

Loyalty is a currency. Paxton spent a decade demanding it and never once paying it back. Now the bill's come due, and the people who know him best are cashing out. MUCK YOU, Ken.