Paxtons cancel divorce trial as Senate race heats up
FILE – Paxton divorce: What's in the newly unsealed documents?
Nearly 300 pages of court documents were released Friday after a judge signed an order unsealing them in the divorce proceedings between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and state Sen. Angela Paxton.
MCKINNEY, Texas - The public divorce trial of Ken and Angela Paxton has been canceled, just weeks before it was set to begin, according to Collin County court records.
What we know:
Ken Paxton, Texas Attorney General and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton were set to being the divorce trial in late June. On Tuesday, court records showed that the trial was canceled per the judge.
What they're saying:
Julian Johnson, an attorney for Ken Paxton, said in a statement that the couple has agreed to avoid a trial.
"The parties have made substantial progress toward an amicable resolution of all issues and remain engaged in productive discussions," Johnson said. "We are optimistic that a final agreement will be reached in the near future."
Ken Paxton (L - photo by Raquel Natalicchio) and Angela Paxton (R - photo by Sam Hodde) (Getty Images)
The backstory:
Angela Paxton filed for divorce in July 2025 on "biblical grounds" and accused her husband of adultery. The divorce petition noted that the couple had stopped living together more than a year ago. The case was sealed shortly after the divorce was filed at the request of the Paxtons.
Documents connected to the case were unsealed in December 2025 after a watchdog group and several media outlets filed a motion. Ken Paxton challenged it, calling the move "intrusive."
What's next:
The move to avoid a public divorce trial comes just one week after Ken Paxton won a runoff against incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn to become the Republican senatorial candidate.
He now faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico during the general election in November.
Talarico leads Paxton in first post-runoff poll of Senate race
Texas state Rep. James Talarico has the early advantage over Attorney General Ken Paxton in their bids for the U.S. Senate in the first poll released since Paxton won the Republican primary runoff.
Dig deeper:
Ken Paxton's tenure as attorney general has been marked with turmoil leading up to his impeachment trial in 2023, during which he was acquitted.
He was accused of having an affair during that trial, and the alleged mistress was deemed "unavailable to testify."
Paxton's felony securities fraud case was dismissed in August after he completed a pretrial diversion program. He was accused of selling securities without a license and without disclosing to buyers that he was being paid.
The Source: Information in this story came from court records, an attorney statement and previous FOX Local reporting.