Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign branded a New York Times profile of his new partner “disgusting” and invasive, saying the attorney general’s personal life is not a campaign issue.
The Daily Mail reported that Paxton’s team moved quickly after the Times published a lengthy look at Christian influencer Tracy Duhon, the woman now tied to the Texas attorney general’s private life as he runs for the U.S. Senate.
Campaign spokeswoman Madison Cercy dismissed the piece in a statement to the outlet and refused further questions about the relationship. She cast the coverage as a distraction from the issues Texas voters actually weigh.
Cercy said:
"This is a disgusting, invasive story that has nothing to do with the issues Texans care about,"
She added a second line that closed the door:
"The attorney general’s personal life is not a campaign issue, and we won’t dignify it with a response."
That response lands in a tight Senate race. Democrat James Talarico is running even with Paxton in several surveys, and national money is already pouring in on both sides.
A Trump-backed super PAC’s $10 million push has treated the contest as a must-hold seat. RealClearPolitics shows Talarico up 1.8 points, 48.5 percent to 46.7 percent. A Fox News poll has them tied at 49 percent each. A Univision/YouGov survey gives Talarico a five-point edge, 50 to 45.
The Times profile, headlined around Duhon as the Christian influencer at the center of Paxton’s new life, highlighted a detail the campaign did not want to discuss: state voting records show she is registered as a Democrat in Louisiana and is not registered to vote in Texas.
Duhon has largely stayed out of sight during the Senate campaign. She co-founded the Christian nonprofit Giving Hope NOLA with her ex-husband, prominent Louisiana car dealer Troy Duhon. She has built a public profile as an aspiring Christian influencer and released a 2025 book on loss, betrayal, three divorces, and God’s plan. The book does not mention Paxton or his wife.
Earlier reporting placed the start of their relationship in May 2024, after the two met at the Kentucky Derby while both were still married to other people. A year after Duhon co-hosted a 2023 religious marriage retreat priced at $799 a couple, both of those marriages were over.
Angela Paxton, a Texas state senator, filed for divorce in July 2025. She said recent discoveries had convinced her it was not right to remain in the marriage. Coverage described the split on biblical grounds. The couple had reportedly not lived together as spouses since June 2024.
She later appeared in an ad funded by a super PAC tied to Senate Republican leadership. The spot urged support for Republicans in the November midterms and spoke of getting “the whole team across the finish line.” It did not name her estranged husband.
Local government records show Paxton recently used a five-bedroom home in a Frisco gated community, north of Dallas, as his mailing address. Reporting linked the property to the pair and said he allegedly lives there with Duhon, citing people familiar with the relationship.
Office records show Paxton visited the New Orleans area at least five times since mid-2024. His office documented official business for two of those trips. No official-business records turned up for the other three. Texas billed more than $13,000 for the security detail on the trips that lacked those records.
The couple also took a European getaway to Iceland and London over a Fourth of July weekend while the relationship was underway.
Paxton’s campaign did not answer questions about Duhon. Instead, the spokeswoman raised questions about Talarico’s own dating history. Specifics of those questions were not detailed in the reporting.
Outside donors have already picked sides in the race. Barbara Bush’s $2,500 donation to a PAC backing Talarico underscored how personal and institutional networks are lining up early.
Paxton’s public record long predates this Senate bid. In 2015 he was indicted on felony securities fraud charges. He settled the case in 2024 without admitting wrongdoing.
In 2023 the Texas House impeached him over allegations he abused his office to help political donor Nate Paul. Those claims included a home renovation and a job for a woman he was accused of having an affair with. The Texas Senate acquitted him at trial. He has denied wrongdoing throughout.
Separate policy fights continue to trail the attorney general’s office. A family lawsuit over Texas abortion law and a court setback on a State Fair handgun ban keep his official record in the news even as the campaign tries to wall off his private life.
Debate pressure is rising too. Fox News has offered to host a Paxton-Talarico debate if both candidates commit, a stage where personal attacks and policy records will be harder to separate.
For now the campaign’s line is fixed. Personal life stays off-limits. The Times story, in their words, is disgusting and invasive. Texas voters still have to decide whether that boundary holds in a race already measured in single digits.
Border security, crime, and the cost of living will decide this seat long before any newspaper profile does.
