Ken Paxton’s estranged wife backs his candidacy — without mentioning him by name

Ken Paxton’s estranged wife threw her support behind the Texas GOP Senate nominee without naming him, saying in a new ad that she will be “voting for the Republican ticket.”

Angela Paxton, who filed for divorce from Ken Paxton last year and accused him of adultery, argued that in the general election, the GOP’s success matters more than any individual candidate.

“Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. In a general election, it’s not as much about the individual players on the team. It’s about getting the whole team across the finish line,” Angela Paxton, who is a state senator, says in the ad. “Either we hold every Republican seat or we hand the future of Texas to the other team. That’s why I’m voting for the Republican ticket on November 3.”

The ad comes after Paxton urged Republican women in remarks last month to support GOP candidates even if they have reservations about them. She similarly did not mention her estranged husband by name in that September 18 speech.

“Because we have more control over that seat and the future when we control the seat — when it’s still in the family, even if we’re mad at them,” she said in the speech. “But if we lose it to the other team, the nuances that we want to fix with maybe a certain candidate are nothing compared to what it’s going to take to get it back, right?”

Jacquelyn Martin/AP/File

The Texas Senate race is a marquee contest as Republicans seek to hold onto the chamber, and the seat — in what was a reliably red state — is increasingly seen as a toss-up, in part due to Ken Paxton’s scandals. Paxton was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives over yearslong corruption allegations and was later acquitted by the state Senate . He continued serving as attorney general of the Lone Star State.

A New York Times/Siena poll released Saturday showed Democratic nominee James Talarico leading Paxton by 6 percentage points.

In a separate ad posted by Paxton on Saturday, the GOP candidate’s daughter made the case that “liberal politicians,” like Talarico, are making the affordability crisis worse.

“When they come after you, my dad goes after them,” Mattie Hayworth says in the video, which featured her partner and children.

肯·帕克斯顿的妻子虽然没有指名道姓，但她公开支持了德克萨斯州共和党参议员候选人，并在一则新广告中表示，她将“投票给共和党候选人”。

去年向肯·帕克斯顿提出离婚并指控他通奸的安吉拉·帕克斯顿认为，在大选中，共和党的成功比任何个人候选人都更重要。

“咱们来谈谈这个显而易见却又难以启齿的问题。在大选中，重要的不是团队中的单个球员，而是整个团队能否最终获胜，”州参议员安吉拉·帕克斯顿在广告中说道。“要么我们保住所有共和党席位，要么我们就把德克萨斯州的未来拱手让给对方。这就是为什么我会在11月3日投票给共和党。”

这则广告发布之前，帕克斯顿上个月曾发表讲话，敦促共和党女性即使对某些共和党候选人有所保留，也要支持他们。同样，在9月18日的讲话中，她也没有提及她分居丈夫的名字。

“因为当我们掌控这个席位时，我们对这个席位和未来就有了更大的控制权——即使我们对他们不满，只要席位还在我们家族手中，”她在演讲中说道。“但如果我们把席位输给对方，我们想通过某个候选人来解决的那些细微问题，与夺回席位所需的努力相比，根本微不足道，对吧？”

杰奎琳·马丁/美联社/档案照片

德克萨斯州参议员选举是一场焦点之战，共和党力图保住参议院的控制权。这个席位——在曾经的共和党铁票仓——如今却越来越被视为胜负难料，部分原因在于肯·帕克斯顿的丑闻。帕克斯顿因长达数年的腐败指控被德克萨斯州众议院弹劾，后被州参议院宣告无罪。他继续担任孤星州（德克萨斯州的别称）的司法部长。

周六公布的《纽约时报》/锡耶纳学院民调显示，民主党候选人詹姆斯·塔拉里科领先帕克斯顿 6 个百分点。

在帕克斯顿周六发布的另一则广告中，这位共和党候选人的女儿声称，像塔拉里科这样的“自由派政客”正在加剧住房负担能力危机。

“当他们来找你麻烦时，我爸爸会去对付他们，”马蒂·海沃斯在视频中说道，视频中还有她的伴侣和孩子们。