Facing heat for presiding over the impeachment of the attorney general, Phelan is addressing the issue head-on and citing an alleged Paxton extramarital affair.
ouse Speaker Dade Phelan beckons at another member of the House during a special legislative session at the state Capitol in Austin on Nov. 17, 2023.In the direct-to-camera spot, Phelan outlines the alleged misdeeds that led to Paxton’s impeachment last year — including an extramarital affair — and says “Vengeful Paxton is the reason” why Donald Trump recently endorsed Phelan’s primary challenger.
The Phelan-led House impeached Paxton in May last year, accusing him of abusing his office to help a wealthy friend and donor, Nate Paul. The Texas Senate held a trial in September and acquitted Paxton, ratcheting up a Republican civil war where Paxton is now on a warpath to unseat the House Republicans who voted to impeach him. Sixty of the chamber’s 85 Republicans voted in favor of impeachment.
The new Phelan commercial is running on TV and digital platforms in Phelan’s Southeast Texas district, according to his campaign.“I didn’t know Ken Paxton was on the ballot in HD-21,” Paxton spokesperson Nick Maddux said in a statement. “It’s a bizarre and desperate ad. When you are running ads like this two weeks before early vote, it’s a clear sign the Speaker’s reelection is in trouble.”
Since his acquittal, Paxton has been fighting to end a whistleblower lawsuit filed in 2020 by former top deputies whose claims factored heavily into the impeachment. Last month, he tried a new tactic to wind down the case: