Attorney General Ken Paxton is bringing his family to his defense in the final days of a Republican primary for U.S. Senate where his personal life has become increasingly scrutinized.
One of his four children, Mattie Hayworth, published an op-ed Thursday defending her father’s record and character. A short time later, Paxton’s campaign released an ad featuring Hayworth and her husband, Daniel.
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“My dad is a really good guy, loves God, he loves his family and he loves this country,” Hayworth says in the 30-second spot, which shows her children running around their living room and her father calling them on FaceTime. “A lot of people may call him General Paxton, Ken Paxton, but our kids call him pop-pop.”
Paxton faced allegations of infidelity during his 2023 impeachment trial, a subject that especially captured public attention because of Paxton’s longstanding political ties to prominent conservative Christians and use of his office to elevate their causes. His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce last year, citing “biblical grounds” and accusing him of adultery. He denied it.
The Daily Mail has since reported that Paxton was romantically involved with a different woman than the one mentioned at his impeachment trial: Tracy Duhon, a Christian influencer and married mother of seven. The Tribune has not independently verified the relationship.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn’s campaign has put Paxton’s personal life at the center of its final ads in the March 3 primary.
“Crooked Ken Paxton cheated on his wife,” a narrator says in one TV spot that started airing Wednesday. “She’s divorcing him on biblical grounds, so Paxton’s wrecking another home, sleeping around with a married mother of seven.”
In her op-ed for Texas Scorecard, a conservative news site, Hayworth brought up the “ugly attacks” on her father and praised him as a devoted parent who “modeled what it means to love your family with intention and consistency.”
“My dad is not perfect; none of us are,” she wrote. “But he is a man of deep faith, genuine love for his family, and an unrelenting commitment to doing right by the people of Texas.”
Paxton’s campaign said the ad with his daughter was being texted to Republican primary voters statewide on Thursday. It would also run digitally.
Asked for comment on Paxton’s family-centric closing message, a Cornyn campaign spokesperson, Matt Mackowiak, pointed to a tongue-in-check X post he made in response to the ad.
“The Duhon family could not be reached for comment,” Mackowiak wrote.
Cornyn and Paxton are locked in a contentious primary that also includes Houston Rep. Wesley Hunt. While Hunt has drawn some contrasts with Paxton, he has generally steered clear of his personal life.
In a statement for this story, Hunt did not mention Paxton but criticized Cornyn for “going after families” and “personal lives.”
“Texans are tired of the noise,” Hunt said, pitching himself as a “devoted husband, a proud father, a combat veteran, and a conservative grounded in faith and service.”
In his final ad push taking aim at Paxton’s personal life, Cornyn is closing out a record eight-digit spending blitz from the incumbent and his allies since the start of the campaign. That has helped him overcome an early polling deficit but failed to give him a clear advantage heading into Election Day, despite Paxton’s comparatively minimal spending.
If no candidate wins a majority of the votes on Tuesday, the race will be decided in a late May runoff between the top two finishers.