Texas Dems Slam Paxton for Cell Tower Deal
and Heckling that Interrupted AG's SA Rally
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August 10, 2026
As Ken Paxton's reputation for ethics took another shot with revelations about a curious stake in a cell tower at a hospital where he'd served on the board, the Texas Democratic Party accused the Republican U.S. Senate contender of running from questions on his lucrative investment portfolios at a rally during the weekend.
The TDP slammed Paxton for dodging inquiries from reporters at an event in San Antonio on Saturday when a video shows him being whisked away by handlers after being asked to comment on extensive real estate holdings he acquired while earning a government paycheck for the past 12 years as the state attorney general.
The Democrats chided Paxton for embarrassing scenes at rallies that he held in four separate cities last week on a Protecting the Promise tour designed to promote a plan that he hatched to tackle the affordability crisis. The state Democratic Party noted in an email that Paxton was interrupted by hecklers who yelled that he'd cheated on his wife at the Alamo City rally and shouted references to a plea deal that he cut that reduced a life sentence that a former Waco attorney received for a conviction for child sexual abuse to a brief jail stay.
"You protect the pedophile president," the state Democratic Party quoted a protester at the Paxton rally as saying there as the Republican Senate nominee left the stage at the Angry Elephant where the attorney general had appeared before a capacity crowd. "You’re all pedophile protectors.”
But the Democrat unleashed a more scalding attack at the Texas Senate candidate for the Republicans after the New York Times reported this afternoon that Paxton reported making as much as $1 million on a cell phone tower that a company he's created owned at a hospital where he'd been a director for 10 years while serving as a state legislator before a promotion to AG in 2014.
While the NYT story that was composed by Austin-based journalist Lauren McGaughy didn't question the legality of the communications tower deal, the latest revelations on Paxton's investments did not pass the smell test in the eyes of the party that's backed James Talarico in the battle for the Texas Senate seat.
"Ken Paxton self-dealing himself a lucrative cell tower by leveraging his position as a board member is classic corruption," Texas Democratic Party spokesperson Ryan Martin contended in the second email attacking the GOP nominee today. "Paxton has made millions while serving in public office, and Texans deserve answers. Paxton is rigging the system to help himself get rich, while working Texans struggle – and it is exactly why Texans will be kicking him to the curb in November.”
While Paxton's campaign did not dispute the facts that the NYT presented in the cell tower piece, it implied that the newspaper was on a witch hunt that was causing it to miss the pertinent stories about the Senate competition in Texas.
"This week, every major publication in Texas covered the overflow crowds at Attorney General Paxton’s Protect the Texas Promise tour, and the Times spent that same week combing through twenty-year-old lease paperwork on a cell tower that Ken Paxton has disclosed publicly for many years,” Paxton campaign adviser Nick Maddux said. “That is not journalism; it’s a search for a story that does not exist."
Talarico and the Democrats have been attacking Paxton relentlessly in recent weeks over reports that show him owning 15 separate pieces of property in an array of states from Hawaii to Florida at a combined value that's been estimated to be somewhere between $10 million and $15 million. Paxton has been making $153,000 year in the statewide post he's had as the state's top lawyer since 2015.
more to come ...
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