Who Is Angela Paxton? Ken Paxton’s Estranged Wife Wades Into Texas Senate Battle—without Mentioning Him

Angela Paxton, the estranged wife of Texas Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, has waded into the state’s hotly contested Senate race by encouraging Texans to vote Republican in the midterm elections—while avoiding directly mentioning her husband.

Angela Paxton—who filed for divorce last year, alleging adultery—long remained mum on the race, in which her husband is facing off against Democrat James Talarico. Over the summer, she declined to share with the New York Times whether she would vote for Ken Paxton in the November election. 

But as Talarico continues to hold a slim lead over her husband in most polls and Election Day draws closer, she has been speaking out to urge voters to back the GOP when they head to the voting booths next month.

In a speech to a group of Republican women in mid-September, she said that the Republican Party has “some vulnerabilities on our ballot,” but urged them to still vote for the party’s candidates “even if we’re mad at it.”

“I’ll be honest with you, I think Republican women will decide this election, because some of those vulnerabilities, I think, have been particularly alienating to women that hold our values,” she said. “When I say we have to win, I mean we have to win all those races. We have to keep all of those seats.”

“It’s not the people—it’s the seat,” she continued. “Because we have more control over that seat and the future when we control the seat, when it’s still in the family, even if we’re mad at it. But if we lose it to the other team, the nuances that we want to fix with maybe a certain candidate are nothing compared to what it’s going to take to get it back.”

Read More: How Trump Helped Put a Texas Senate Seat In Play

And she is now sharing a similar message in a new ad, in which she talks about, in her own words, “the elephant in the room.”

“People have asked my thoughts about this election and it turns out, I have some. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room,” Angela Paxton opens the ad by saying. 

“In a general election, it’s not as much about the individual players on the team—it’s about getting the whole team across the finish line,” she says. “Either we hold every Republican seat or we hand the future of Texas to the other team. That’s why I’m voting for the Republican ticket on Nov. 3. Let’s hold the line together.”

She does not speak about Ken Paxton or the Senate contest outright in the ad. The ad was funded by Texas PAC, which is tied to a super PAC that backs a Republican majority in the upper chamber.

Here’s what to know about Angela Paxton, and the significance of her wading into the midterm elections.

Who is Angela Paxton?

Angela Paxton, a Republican, has served in the Texas state Senate since 2019. She was previously a math teacher and school counselor.

She and Ken Paxton have been married for nearly four decades, but last year, she announced that she filed for divorce “on biblical grounds,” stating that, “in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.” 

In her divorce petition, Angela Paxton alleged that her husband “has committed adultery” and said that the two of them had stopped living together “as spouses” by June 2024. 

A spokesperson for the Texas state senator told the Times over the weekend that the divorce proceedings are still underway.

What is the significance of Angela Paxton wading into the Texas Senate race?

Political experts tell TIME that the ad featuring Angela Paxton suggests that the Republican Party is worried about her husband’s chances of winning the Senate race.

“The fact that the need was felt to reach out to [Texas state senator Angela Paxton] to obliquely vouch for her now estranged husband is pretty remarkable, and an indication of the extent of concern that Republicans are feeling in this race,” says Joshua Blank, the research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

Most polls show that Paxton is trailing—by a very slim margin—behind Talarico. If Talarico wins the Senate race, it would be the first time that a Democratic candidate has won a statewide election in Texas in more than three decades.

Paxton’s campaign has been shadowed by several scandals and controversies that have arisen throughout his political career, including allegations of infidelity, a fraud indictment, and an impeachment trial on charges of bribery and abuse of office. Paxton has denied any wrongdoing. The fraud charges against him were ultimately dropped after prosecutors and Paxton agreed to a deal, and he was acquitted of all charges against him in his impeachment trial by the Texas state Senate.

Political experts say that President Donald Trump’s low approval ratings—particularly how voters feel about his handling of the economy—could also be impacting Paxton’s performance in the polls, as well as an unusually tight gubernatorial race in Texas. 

“Nationwide, we know it’s a difficult environment for Republicans. That’s playing out in Texas too, though Texas is more Republican than most states and so there’s more of a buffer,” says Kirby Goidel, a professor of political science at Texas A&M University.

According to data shared by CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten on air earlier this month, Paxton’s net popularity is the lowest among several Republicans vying for key Senate seats next month.

“[Paxton is] in a tight race like other Republicans, but he’s in a tighter race in a worse situation because, I think, of the baggage that he brings to the campaign,” Goidel says.

Goidel says that, if you’re the Republican Party looking at these polls, “you say, what does Ken Paxton have to do to win this race?”

“Well, the first thing he has to do is secure Republican support,” Goidel continues. “I think having his wife come on and send that message that this is the team game, not an individual game, and we need all the players on the field, is a … signal [from the party of] ‘Hey, we need you all to come on board and vote for this guy; you may not like it, but we need you.’”

Blank also says that the ad featuring Angela Paxton “is not so indirectly addressed at giving women, but in particular Republican women who might have apprehensions about supporting Ken Paxton, with permission to do so.”

A New York Times/Siena University poll conducted at the end of September found that more men who are likely voters in Texas said they would vote for Paxton than women who are likely voters in the state, at 51% compared to 40%. Blank points out, though, that there’s a gender gap in partisanship in American politics more generally—women tend to be more likely than men to align themselves with the Democratic Party, while men tend to be more likely than women to align themselves with the Republican Party.

Blank notes that “polling has indicated a consistent gap in enthusiasm among Republican voters.”

“Republican women in particular might be a soft spot in the coalition, and if anything, this ad indicates that that’s likely the case,” Blank says.