Ken Paxton's calendar isn't exactly screaming "office job." An AP review finds the Texas attorney general has logged at least 275 trips out of state since 2015—hitting California wine country, European getaways, Caribbean resorts, ski towns, and Trump properties—while leaving roughly 730 workdays blank on his official schedule. Taxpayers have covered at least $1.9 million in travel costs for his security detail over that period, with reimbursements surging from about $30,000 in 2015 to nearly $400,000 in 2024. How Paxton personally funds much of the travel remains unclear.
The jet-setting coincides with Paxton's rise as a MAGA-aligned figure who has sued the Biden administration more than 100 times and frequently appears on conservative media; in some recent years, his calendar shows more media stops than office-related events. "There is clearly a pattern of behavior here that may make some voters question how seriously Ken Paxton has taken the job," said Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at UT Austin. "At the same time, Ken Paxton has been accused of a lot of things and those accusations have not hurt him in any significant way yet." Paxton has been embroiled in a divorce in which he was accused of infidelity, and a state impeachment on grounds of abuse of office and accepting bribes in which he was acquitted; he nonetheless handily vanquished incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary.
His travel and time away from Texas are now campaign fodder in that Senate run, with Democratic opponent James Talarico accusing him of prioritizing his national profile and luxury trips over state issues. Paxton's office says the calendars do not "capture someone's full workday, including hours of calls, negotiations, case strategy, and briefings with his team that fill every day." Further, the need for security is a result of threats "stemming from his courageous work … fighting on behalf of the people of Texas."
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