Inside Ken Paxton’s jet-setting lifestyle: California wineries, European hot spots and ski resorts

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — When Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched his campaign for Senate last year, he skipped the local pageantry.

Instead, records show, the conservative firebrand announced his bid on Fox News, cleared his calendar and booked a hotel in Augusta, Georgia, during the storied Masters golf tournament, a trip that cost to Texas taxpayers at least $25,000.

The trip reflected a transformation that has unfolded over Paxton’s 11 tumultuous years as Texas’ top law enforcement official: His focus has increasingly extended beyond state lines. As he steadily built a national political profile and became a star in President Donald Trump’s MAGA universe, Paxton took frequent trips and spent less time in Texas, according to an Associated Press review of state records.

Since assuming office, Paxton left nearly 730 workdays blank on his official calendars and took over 275 out-of-state trips to places such as the California wine country, Caribbean resorts and European tourism hot spots. The travel cost Texas taxpayers a minimum of $1.9 million to cover expenses charged by his security detail, records show. It is unclear how Paxton has financed much of his portion of the travel.

The pattern became more pronounced as Paxton’s profile rose. Early in his tenure, his official calendars were packed with job-related duties. In 2021, more than 90 workdays were blank — a number that reached to 112 in 2024, the last full year the AP had records for.

Texas does not require the attorney general to report his day-to-day whereabouts, and other state records do not often reveal the length or purpose of the out-of-state travel. Texas, however, keeps records of monthly expenses incurred by his security detail. Those records show reimbursements for travel outside Texas spiked from about $30,000 in 2015 to nearly $400,000 in 2024.

“There is clearly a pattern of behavior here that may make some voters questions how seriously Ken Paxton has taken the job,” said Joshua Blank, the director of research for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

Paxton’s record as attorney general and his travel have become an issue in the Senate campaign, a race that could prove pivotal in deciding party control of the chamber.

His Democratic opponent, James Talarico, criticized Paxton for spending July 4 in Great Britain and accused him of focusing more on his standing in Trump’s political movement than on issues facing Texans.

Paxton’s campaign declined to comment and directed all questions to the Texas Attorney General’s office, which did not respond to a detailed list of questions.

In an unsigned statement, Paxton’s office said that calendar entries do not “capture someone’s full workday, including hours of calls, negotiations, case strategy, and briefings with his team that fill every day.”

Paxton’s office said he has been a leader of legal efforts that secured large settlements from drugmakers and tech companies, which required routine travel. He travels with a security detail, like other high-profile state officials, because he faces threats “stemming from his courageous work … fighting on behalf of the people of Texas,” his office said.

“His schedule is built to be immediately responsive to the most pressing issues in order to best serve Texans,” the statement reads.

Since taking office more than a decade ago, the former state lawmaker and probate lawyer has been under a cloud of scrutiny. Paxton was investigated by the FBI without being charged. Without admitting guilt, he paid restitution to settle felony securities charges brought by state prosecutors. And he was impeached — but later acquitted — by fellow Republicans on accusations of abusing his office and accepting bribes.

He has survived politically thanks to a deep-well of support from his Christian conservative base and a close affiliation with Trump. He cemented the bond early in his tenure by turning his office into an operating base for the conservative movement and pursuing litigation to further its goals.

Paxton “learned that litigation itself generated political capital,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston.

Paxton’s evolution into a national political figure can be seen in his official calendars. Early in his tenure, his schedule was packed with the typical duties of a state attorney general.

Over the last five years, the calendars contained few listings of such activities, appearing to confirm what two former deputies told impeachment investigators in 2023: He often skipped meetings and was indifferent to many of his job’s day-to-day duties.

“He was gone a lot, he was traveling, he was out,” Mark Penley, a former deputy attorney general, told impeachment investigators.

Over a two-year period ending in 2024, he flew to the Caribbean, Israel, India, Taiwan, South Africa, made three trips to Europe and hit five different ski towns in the Rockies, including five visits to Park City, Utah, according to reimbursement records for his security detail.

Texas conservatives, including Paxton, have long treated California as a punching bag. “Don’t California My Texas” is a favorite phrase of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who uses it as a pejorative shorthand for the left-wing values commonly associated with the west coast state.

That kind of disdain has not stopped Paxton from spending time in California, where he spent a portion of his youth. Records show Paxton has taken roughly 25 trips to the state, costing Texas taxpayers about $180,000.

“I don’t like to admit that I go to California. But it’s beautiful,” Paxton said on the “Swimming with the Sharks” podcast last November.

He has shown a particular fondness for northern California’s wine country, which he visited at least five times, records show.

A wine country visit in 2024 cost the public over $14,000, records show. During the trip, Paxton ventured near Yosemite National Park, records show, where his campaign paid for meals, including $436 dropped at Mammoth Rock Restaurant, a French-inspired brasserie that offers “elevated” classics such as escargot and duck confit.

___

Slodysko reported from Washington.