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← Signal: State & Power

Ethics Experts Say Paxton Violated Federal Disclosure Law on Assets, Income

Confirmed1 source · Sep 4, 2026

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican U.S. Senate nominee, appears to have failed to report rental income from seven properties and omitted mortgages and asset valuations from required federal financial disclosures.

Ethics Experts Say Paxton Violated Federal Disclosure Law on Assets, Income
Image via ProPublica

What happened

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune's review found that Paxton reported owning seven rental properties but claimed earning no income from any of them—a violation of federal ethics law according to three ethics experts consulted. He also failed to disclose mortgages on three Utah condos and significantly undervalued a Texas land stake at $50,000 when his business partner said it was worth roughly $1 million. The omissions obscure Paxton's income streams, assets, and debt. His August 2024 federal disclosure reported a net worth between $1 million and $27 million, a dramatic shift from his prior year's range of negative $1.9 million to $11.1 million, driven by reported property value increases rather than new acquisitions. Paxton declined interview requests; his campaign spokesperson attributed the filing to his successful career outside public service and dismissed the allegations as partisan.

Context

The disclosures matter because incomplete financial filings prevent voters and watchdogs from evaluating potential conflicts of interest, particularly critical in a Senate race where trust is at stake. Paxton has exhibited a pattern of withholding financial information: his 2001 state disclosure listed assets under $170,000, yet by 2015 his household net worth reached $5.4 million—growth built on diverse investments including a body camera company that netted him $2.2 million when Motorola acquired it in 2019, after which he pursued aggressive real estate purchases. A University of Texas poll found only one-third of respondents view him as honest and trustworthy, and his opponent, Democrat James Talarico, has gained narrow polling ground in a state where Republicans have not lost a statewide race in 32 years.

What's disputed

Paxton's campaign characterization of the filings as free of wrongdoing versus ethics experts' assessment that they violate federal law.