Collin County frontlines emotional Texas House primary – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

We will soon know whether the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton will have political consequences.

After years of friendship, all five Republican members from his home state supported his ouster. They now face challengers he helped recruit to exact retribution on his former friends in the March 5 primary.

Early voting started on Tuesday.

Late last spring, the Texas House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach and suspend Paxton on charges of bribery and abuse of power. The Texas Senate voted to acquit himbut the FBI continues to investigate allegations made by his top staff who reported him to the FBI. civil lawsuit against his office continues.

Eight months later, hundreds of campaign signs stand outside early voting sites in Paxton's hometown of Collin County. In the fall, Paxton and leaders of the Collin County Republican Party recruited challengers to face incumbent Reps. Frederick Frazier (R-McKinney), Jeff Leach (R-Plano), Matt Shaheen (R-Plano), Justin Holland (R-Rockwall) and Candy Noble (R-Lucas).

Many of them have known Paxton for years. He was responsible for recruiting some of them to enter politics. Leach gave an emotional speech during the impeachment trial, calling his former roommate and “brother in Christ” a good friend who had lost his way.

Paxton has not yet returned a request for comment for this story.

Paxton endorsed Daren Meis against Leach. Meis said he would have voted against impeachment and believes Leach has not been loyal enough to the Republican Party platform.

Wayne Richard told NBC 5 on Lone Star Politics that Collin County GOP leaders recruited him to run against Rep. Matt Shaheen. That race has recently gained momentum.

“My opponent has known me for 14 years now. He’s been to my house. We’ve broken bread together with our wives. We even go to the same church,” Richard said, angry that Shaheen had linked him to a group that had met with a known white supremacist in campaign materials.

“I think his advisors have decided they have to attack me,” Richard said.

Shaheen argues that incumbents have done their job on longstanding conservative causes, such as record spending on border security and banning nearly all abortions in the state. He defended his vote by siding with the Paxton whistleblowers in the impeachment.

“Do you ultimately believe Ken Paxton, who was unfaithful to his wife and had a mistress in Austin (a reference to a key witness in the allegations against Paxton), or do you believe eight professional individuals?” Shaheen said.

“It's not that there are RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) in the group. It's not that there are people who significantly deviate from conservative values. It's much more about personalities,” said Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at SMU.

Wilson said the Collin County elections will show who holds power over a tight-knit, largely Christian conservative group in one of the largest Republican districts in the country.

“It will be a real test of Ken Paxton's influence and power in his original home base to see how many, if any, of these challengers will defeat the incumbent presidents,” Wilson said.

Paxton also supported Abraham George in his bid to defeat Noble, Chuck Branch and Teresa Richardson in their race to defeat Frazier and Katrina Pierson at the expense of Holland.

Earlier this month, at a meeting in Wylie, Paxton told the Dallas Morning News The incumbent representatives were misled by House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) and a powerful group that opposed Paxton in his election, Texans for Lawsuit Reform.

“We're going to win them,” Paxton said The news across Collin County's five seats.

“I live in Collin County and it's my job to make sure the best people are elected here,” Paxton said.

Paxton's endorsements in Collin County will clash with those of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has more campaign donations, a better turnout operation and, according to recent polls, is better known and liked.

The governor has endorsed Shaheen, Leach, Noble and Frazier, but not Holland, because they voted against one of the governor's priorities, which is to allow families to use public school money for private schools and homeschooling.

“People who have worked for the Republican Party and Republican candidates their whole lives are now being torn between people they know, people they worked with on previous campaigns and people who are their friends,” Wilson said.

Many of them—the Shaheens, the Paxtons, the Nobles, the Leachs, and the Richards—even attended the same church: the large, popular, and influential Prestonwood Baptist Church.

“As Christians, we not only have a heavenly citizenship, but we also have an earthly citizenship. We have a heavenly allegiance to Christ and also a national allegiance to Christ because we are told that while on earth we are to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ,” Executive Pastor Mike Buster wrote on NBC 5, “At Prestonwood, we take our earthly citizenship seriously. We have always encouraged our members to do their civic duty by getting involved and voting for their values.”