Republicans 'eating themselves alive' over impeachment of Ken Paxton: 'Never seen grassroots this mad!'

Republicans who voted to impeach Texas attorney general Ken Paxton can expect primary challenges in an intra-party battle that mirrors the national GOP's dynamic around Donald Trump.

Paxton has been embroiled in criminal investigations and legal battles for nearly his entire tenure as attorney general, but he was finally impeached last month after asking the state to pay off his $3.3 million settlement in a whistleblower lawsuit. Hardline conservative factions are seeking retribution for the 60 GOP legislators who backed the move, reported the Washington Post.

“We have never seen the grass roots this mad!” posted Julie McCarty, CEO of the hard right True Texas Project, shortly after the vote. "They are being eviscerated by you … as they should be!”

State Rep. Terry Wilson has heard plenty from those angry GOP voters, hundreds of whom have called his office in Austin or confronted him directly at public events, and some of them tied their support for Paxton to the attorney general's efforts to overturn the former president's 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

“Not everybody was a supporter of Paxton, we were questioning the process,” said Cathy Jaster, a precinct chair in Williamson County. “He stood up to the illegal overthrow of our government by Biden. We wanted Attorney General Paxton to have a fair shake.”

Wilson reminded his constituents that Paxton would stand trial in the state Senate, where he would be able to testify and present his own witnesses and evidence in his defense, but Democrats are hopeful the GOP rift over impeachment will give them an advantage in next year's elections.

“The Republican Party is in a lot of disarray," said Joel Montfort, a Democratic consultant based in North Texas. "You’ve got the extreme wing of it working feverishly to try to take it over and they’ve had a lot of success to the frustration of us Democrats ... There is definitely an opportunity for Texas Democrats to benefit from what the GOP is doing to itself. They are eating themselves alive.”