Texas AG Ken Paxton's top backers fail to unseat Collin County leaders Tuesday

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was not on the ballot for Tuesday night's primary. But five sitting members of the House of Representatives from Collin County who voted to impeach him were.

And Paxton endorsed several primary Republican challengers in his base, Collin County, after that impeachment vote. Despite his popularity at home, none of the candidates Paxton endorsed prevailed against incumbents on Tuesday.

Three of Congressman Collin's GOP members of the Texas House had significant leads late Tuesday against their Paxton-backed opponents. The other two races look set to go to a runoff election in May.

Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said incumbents often have an advantage.

“Even though Ken Paxton has some political juice in Collin County, it's not always enough to be able to unseat an incumbent,” Rottinghaus said.

Abbott's support appears to carry more weight with core GOP voters. A pre-election STUDY from the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs found that 64% of Republican primary voters in Texas said they were more likely to support a candidate backed by Abbott, compared to 40% who said the same for Paxton. Abbott endorsed all but one of the Republican officials in Collin County.

Texas House District 89

Rep. Candy Noble received about 53% of the vote according to results from the Texas Secretary of State website. She faced Paxton-backed challenger Abraham George in her primary race.

Abbott endorsed Noble and came to Collin County to campaign for Noble. She supported his failed school voucher program, which would have used state public education funds to pay for private school tuition.

George resigned as chairman of the Collin County GOP Party to run. When he was chairman of the Collin County GOP, George praised Paxton's acquittal in the Texas Senate impeachment trial. He said the trial was a waste of time and resources that distracted GOP members from priorities like the border and the economy. He also called on voters to “clean up” the Texas House.

George said in an earlier statement when the impeachment was first announced that the House impeachment lacked due process.

“Real corruption is when you won't allow a fair and just process,” he said.

Texas House District 61

None of the three candidates in the Texas House District 61 GOP primary race won a majority of the vote. Representative Frederick Frazier, who won about 32% of the vote, will face Keresa Richardson in a runoff election in May.

Both Paxton and his wife, Texas State Senator Angela Paxton, endorsed Richardson, who received about 40% of the vote in the primary race. She told KERA after a debate hosted by the Collin County Patriots that Frazier sided with Democrats too often.

“He's definitely not the representative we need,” Richardson said. “We need new leadership and Collin County deserves better. It's time for a change.”

Frazier voted to fire Paxton, but he also faced other challenges. He accepted one plea of ​​deferred judgment and paid several fines after pleading no contest to two misdemeanor counts of impersonating a public servant in a Collin County court in December.

He also pleaded guilty to a felony count. His 2022 Republican primary opponent, Paul Chabot, reported to police that Frazier pretended to be a city code compliance officer to remove some of Chabot's campaign signs.

Texas House District 33

The Republican primary race in Texas' House District 33 is also headed to a May runoff. MP Justin Holland received about 39% of the vote. He will face Katrina Pierson, who received about 40% of the vote.

Pierson declared her victory social media.

“HD 33 had a choice – and over 60% voted for a candidate who will serve We the People, not Swamp Austin and the Democrats,” she said.

Dennis London, who also challenged Holland, received about 22% of the vote.

Pierson is a former spokesman for President Donald Trump's campaign. it received 50 thousand dollars by Texans United for a conservative majority. The political action committee was created by two West Texas billionaires, Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, after their previous PAC faced controversy when the then-president met with white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

The district includes only a small portion of Collin County, with most of it in Rockwall County. The Rockwall County GOP denounced Holland social media in January for voting to impeach Paxton and supporting Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan.

No Democrats filed to run in the district's primary race, so whoever wins the May runoff will be the only candidate on the ballot in the general election.

Texas House District 67

Rep. Jeff Leach won about 65% of the vote Tuesday night, a significant lead over his primary opponent, former Allen City Councilman Daren Meis. He thanked his supporters in a post on social media.

“After winning a resounding victory — with nearly 66% of the vote — I'm more eager than ever to continue serving as your voice in the Capitol and more excited than ever to continue fighting for our future and for our families,” he said. Leach.

Leach, who has held office for six terms, is known as a conservative. He spearheaded legislation that prohibited businesses from requiring their employees to be vaccinated for Covid-19 and co-authored the bill that made it legal for Texans to carry concealed firearms in most public places without obtaining a permit.

But Leach's GOP critics labeled him a RINO, a Republican in name only, because of his involvement in Paxton's firing. He addressed that on the night of the elections according to a post on social networks by Tony Ortiz of Current Revolt, a conservative outlet.

“I've been called a RINO, but I don't know what you call a RINO that just got 66% of the vote,” Leach said.

Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said RINO once referred to Republicans who weren't conservative enough. But he said that meaning has changed as loyalty to some Republican politicians — like Paxton or President Donald Trump — has become more important to the party than loyalty to policy or ideology.

“The way a lot of people use it now is as an accusation of infidelity,” Wilson said.

Meis accused Leach of going against the will of voters for supporting Paxton's impeachment. Attorney General was elected in 2022 with 53% of the vote in Collin County.

Texas House District 66

Matt Shaheen, who has represented this state district since 2015, received about 64% of the vote.

Shaheen thanked his supporters on social media.

“I want to thank the Republican voters of Western Collin County for once again allowing me to run as your candidate for the TX House of Representatives in November,” he said.

Abbott endorsed Shaheen, who supported school vouchers. Shaheen told “Texas Newsroom” that Abbott's support is more helpful to the campaigns.

“Ken Paxton is very irrelevant when it comes to these campaigns. He is someone who has had a lover. He has been accused of taking bribes,” he said. “So it's not really an endorsement that you want, if something that maybe hurts you.“

Paxton endorsed Wayne Richard, Shaheen's challenger. Richard told The Texas Press that the impeachment trial inspired him to run.

“The house is a mess,” Richard said Texas Gazette. “I was not happy with the fact that our current representative, my opponent, voted for impeachment, knowing that the information was probably not legitimate – rumors and innuendo – so I made a decision to run.”

the democrats

Most Democratic primary races in Collin County had just one candidate on the ballot, including Rep. Mihaela Plesa in Texas House District 70.

Plesa, who was first elected in 2022, is the only Democratic incumbent running in the county. Her opponent, Steve Kinard, defeated Joe Collins III in the GOP primary race for the seat with about 68% of the vote. Kinard has endorsements from Sen. Ted Cruz and Texas State Sen. Angela Paxton.

Texas House District 67 was the only contested Democratic primary race on the ballot in Collin County. Makala Washington, who owns a private bartending business called Personality on the Rocks, won about 65% of the vote late Tuesday.

Democrat Rachel Mello was also the only candidate in the Democratic primary race for Texas Senate District 8. Senator Paxton, who currently holds the seat, was the only Republican on the ballot for her primary race.

Do you have a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.

Caroline Love is one Report on America Corpus member for KERA News.

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