Paxton's 350 Out-of-State Trips on Texas Funds Face Senate Race Review
A high volume of state-funded travel by a sitting attorney general running for federal office raises questions about the boundary between official duties and political positioning that Texas...
Ken Paxton, the Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Texas in the 2026 election cycle, took approximately 350 trips outside of Texas between his January 2015 swearing-in as state attorney general and the current campaign period, according to reporting by The New York Times published October 26, 2026. The travel, conducted aboard state-funded aircraft, has drawn scrutiny from campaign observers who question whether any portion of those trips served political rather than official purposes.
The figure of 350 trips spans roughly eleven years of service as attorney general. The Times report identifies the travel as state-funded, meaning costs were borne by Texas taxpayers rather than by Paxton's campaign committee. The precise dollar amount spent on aircraft for those trips was not specified in the source reporting. The full cost would be reflected in Texas state expenditure records and aviation logs held by the Texas Department of Public Safety, which manages the state aircraft fleet.
Under Texas law, state aircraft may be used for official government business. Use of state resources for campaign activity is prohibited under the Texas Election Code, Title 15, and can trigger referrals to the Texas Ethics Commission. Whether any of the 350 trips have been formally referred to or reviewed by the Texas Ethics Commission is not established by the available source material.
Paxton was first elected attorney general in November 2014 and re-elected in 2018 and 2022. He was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives in May 2023 on articles including allegations of abuse of office and misuse of office resources, according to the Texas House impeachment resolution. The Texas Senate acquitted him on all articles in September 2023 after a trial. Those proceedings are part of the public legislative record of the 88th Texas Legislature.
Paxton announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Cornyn, who is not seeking re-election in 2026. Federal Election Commission filings for Paxton's Senate campaign committee are publicly available at FEC.gov and would reflect any campaign funds used to offset official travel costs, a practice known as reimbursement that campaigns sometimes employ to comply with state ethics rules.
The scrutiny of state-funded travel for politicians seeking federal office is not unique to this case. In 2018, then-Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp faced questions about use of state aircraft during his gubernatorial campaign, an episode covered by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. In 2019, the Government Accountability Office examined use of government aircraft by cabinet officials for mixed official and personal travel, releasing report GAO-19-417. Those precedents establish a documented pattern of such reviews at both state and federal levels.
For a sitting state official seeking federal office, the key legal question is whether individual trips served a legitimate state government purpose or whether any portion constituted an in-kind contribution to a federal campaign. Federal campaign finance law, specifically 52 U.S.C. Section 30118, restricts the use of funds controlled by corporations or government entities for federal campaign purposes. The Federal Election Commission has jurisdiction over the federal campaign finance dimension of any such question.
The Times report frames the travel volume as drawing campaign scrutiny, without specifying which entity, whether a rival campaign, a watchdog group, or a government body, has formally initiated a review. No FEC complaint, Texas Ethics Commission filing, or federal investigation related to this travel has been cited in the source material available as of the publication date of this article.
Paxton's Senate campaign did not provide a response that is reflected in the available source material. What is unknown is the breakdown of the 350 trips by destination and stated official purpose, the total cost to Texas taxpayers, whether any trips coincided with campaign fundraisers or political events, and whether any formal ethics complaint has been filed. The Texas Department of Public Safety flight logs, Texas Comptroller expenditure records, and any Texas Ethics Commission docket entries would be the primary public documents to answer those questions. FEC filings for Paxton's Senate committee, searchable at FEC.gov under the committee's registration, would reveal whether any reimbursements were made to the state.