‘We cannot ignore the elephant in the room’: Ken Paxton’s estranged wife speaks to GOP women

Angela Paxton, a Texas state senator who is divorcing Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton, has publicly urged GOP women to back their party's candidates in November despite misgivings. Speaking on September 18 to the Texas Federation of Republican Women at a quarterly board meeting, she titled her talk "The Elephant in the Room." She never named her husband, the state attorney general, or his contest against Democrat James Talarico, but she acknowledged that Republicans have "vulnerabilities" on the ballot that alienate women sharing the party's values, according to CNN.

She argued that the primary, where Ken Paxton beat Sen. John Cornyn, was the moment to air such objections, and that voters should now put the seat ahead of the individual. Losing it to Democrats, she said, would cost far more to reverse than any flaws in a candidate. She discouraged Republicans from leaving that line blank and warned that a loss could mean a "war" in two years, when she faces reelection and a presidential race is on the ballot. Her full remarks went online Monday after the Texas Tribune reported on a short excerpt shared by someone in the audience.

Republicans are anxious: Talarico, a state representative from Austin, leads in most recent polls, and the Senate Leadership Fund is spending well over $100 million for Paxton. Angela Paxton filed for divorce in July 2025 on "biblical grounds," alleging adultery. Cornyn has declined to campaign for Paxton.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CNN’s reporting. Read the full story at CNN →