Ken Paxton Suffered An Early Blow

During the morning session, Paxton sat between two of his 12 lawyers, Tony Buzbee and Dan Cogdell.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s historic battle to remain in office suffered an early blow Tuesday as the vast majority of Texas senators rejected motions to dismiss the articles of impeachment against him. It allowed the first removal trial of a statewide elected official in more than a century to proceed. The votes on the motions to dismiss were among the first orders of business as Paxton’s impeachment trial kicked off in the Senate. While most of the votes on the 16 pretrials motions averaged 22-8 margins against dismissal, Paxton gained enough support to leave the final impeachment vote in the air. Twelve Republican Senators voted with Democrats to move forward with the process initiated over three months ago.