AUSTIN – The Collin County Democratic Party on Tuesday accused Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton of violating state law for appearing to misrepresent where he lived while voting in recent elections.
Mary Higbe, the party’s vice chair, filed a formal complaint Tuesday with the secretary of state’s office, which oversees Texas elections, and the Collin County district attorney’s office.
The complaint was made after The Texas Tribune and ProPublica reported that Paxton, now the Republican Senate nominee, voted in six elections over the past two years using the address of a Collin County home where he no longer lived.
Paxton campaign spokeswoman Madison Cercy said the attorney general “is a lawful, registered Texas voter in full compliance with the law” and dismissed the report as a “partisan hit piece.”
Paxton’s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, said in a 2025 divorce filing that he had moved out of the home a year earlier. The news outlets reported that Paxton’s living arrangements since then appear tied to a home in neighboring Denton County, though his voter registration was never updated.
Higbie wrote that the state should ensure Paxton follows the same election rules his office enforces.
“For someone who’s made a stand against voter fraud, it’s unconscionable (yet not surprising) that Paxton engages in this behavior,” she said.
He faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico of Austin in the November election.
Alicia Pierce, a spokeswoman with the secretary of state’s office, and officials with the Collin County district attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
The secretary of state’s office has no investigative arm for election complaints. It conducts an initial review and refers those it determines may warrant investigation to the attorney general’s office, which Paxton leads.
Voting in an election while ineligible is generally a second-degree felony in Texas, though election law experts say residency disputes can be difficult to prosecute because state law considers multiple factors in determining where someone lives.