Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state’s GOP Senate nominee, had spent years as the state’s top law enforcement officer “waging war on Democratic and Latino-led groups” amid his amplification of false claims of widespread voter fraud, but in doing so, may have created a powerful obstacle in his bid for higher office, The New York Times reported Saturday.
“The stakes of the fight with groups determined to mobilize Texas’ fast-growing Hispanic electorate changed significantly last month when [Paxton] won the Republican Party’s nomination for Senate,” the Times’ report reads. “Now it is personal and could help determine his own political future – and which party controls the Senate.”
Paxton regularly targeted progressive Hispanic groups in Texas under a state law passed in 2021 designed to strengthen “election integrity.” The law criminalized “what had been fairly routine tools for civic groups,” and “particularly in Latino communities,” the Times wrote, resulting in “a trail of ransacked residences, shellshocked volunteers, struggling organizations and indictments.”
The result of the law was a dramatic reduction in voter outreach efforts among Hispanic communities. Jolt Initiative, for instance, the “largest youth outreach group in Texas,” typically registered more than 12,000 voters a year, but in 2025, only registered 3,586 voters.
Paxton's office did not return the Times' request for comment, but Texas Hispanic voters and advocates were eager to make clear exactly what they believe is at stake in his Senate bid.
“It doesn’t look good for us, but we are going to keep fighting,” said Gabriel Rosales, who heads the League of United Latin American Citizens in Texas as its director, speaking with the Times.