A former top aide to Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas, is appearing in a new online ad endorsing Paxton's Democratic rival, James Talarico, in one of the most hotly contested and costly U.S. Senate races in the country.
The aide, David Maxwell, served as Paxton's director of law enforcement for several years until 2020, when he and other high-level staffers accused Paxton of abusing the power of his office to help a campaign donor under federal investigation. The allegations were central to Paxton's impeachment trial in 2023, in which he denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted by the Republican-led Texas Senate.
Last year, a judge awarded a total of $6.6 million to Maxwell and three other former aides to Paxton who had filed a whistleblower lawsuit after their dismissals.
"Ken Paxton ended my five-decade career in public service because I blew the whistle on his corruption," Maxwell says in the ad, wearing a dark suit and white cowboy hat.
Talarico, a state lawmaker, has focused his campaign on Paxton's impeachment and other controversies in his career, calling him "the most corrupt politician in Texas." One of Talarico's earlier ads featured a story that has become political lore in Texas, in which Paxton filched a $1,000 Montblanc pen from a courthouse security tray.
But Paxton has shown striking resilience against accusations of corruption. Although Sen. John Cornyn ran a well-financed reelection campaign arguing that Paxton was unfit for public...
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