AUSTIN, Texas – Ken Paxton has spent more than a decade as Texas’s top law enforcement official, earning a government salary of $153,750 a year. So how did he end up with a $13 million fortune, a passport full of European stamps, and a campaign war chest that’s projected to top $300 million?
The answer, according to financial records, travel logs, and court filings reviewed by multiple news organizations, reveals a lifestyle that’s equal parts real estate empire, political celebrity, and personal scandal. From luxury ski resorts in Utah to wine country in California to Fourth of July weekends in London with his alleged mistress, Paxton’s world looks nothing like that of a typical state attorney general.
And with his Senate race against Democrat James Talarico tightening by the day, every detail of that lifestyle is now fair game.
The Money: How a $153K Salary Became a Multimillion-Dollar Fortune
Forbes estimates Ken Paxton’s net worth at roughly $13 million, a figure that would be remarkable for any career politician, let alone one who has spent most of his adult life in public service.
The foundation of that wealth is real estate. Paxton owns at least 14 properties across five states, with a combined estimated value of around $10 million and roughly $4.7 million in outstanding debt against them. His holdings include a $1.2 million home in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood, a $1.3 million cabin in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, and four condos at a luxury resort in Ivins, Utah, worth a combined $3 million.
But real estate is only part of the story. Paxton’s financial disclosures reveal a portfolio that includes a cell tower business he co-founded in 2005, which generates between $100,000 and $1 million in annual income. He also netted a reported $2.2 million payout when Motorola acquired WatchGuard, a police body camera company he had invested in, in 2019.
Perhaps most notably, Paxton is set to collect an estimated $94,000 annual pension as soon as he leaves office, a benefit that reflects his long tenure in state government.
When pressed on Fox News about how he accumulated such wealth on a government salary, Paxton was defiant. “When you do a good job as a business person, as a lawyer and you take care of your clients, they pay you,” he said. “And that’s how I have made my living. And I’m proud of it, by the way. Very proud.”
The Travel: 275 Trips, 730 Blank Workdays, and $1.9 Million in Security Costs
If Paxton’s finances raise eyebrows, his travel schedule raises even more.
An Associated Press review of state records found that since taking office in 2015, Paxton has taken more than 275 out-of-state trips and left nearly 730 workdays blank on his official calendars. The destinations have included California wine country, Caribbean resorts, European tourism hot spots, and ski resorts in Colorado.
The cost to Texas taxpayers has been substantial. Records for his security detail show that reimbursements for out-of-state travel spiked from about $30,000 in 2015 to nearly $400,000 in 2024. In total, his travel has cost taxpayers a minimum of $1.9 million in security-related expenses alone.
It is not clear how Paxton has financed his portion of these trips.
The blank calendar days tell their own story. In 2021, more than 90 workdays were empty. By 2024, that number had risen to 112. Two former deputies told impeachment investigators in 2023 that Paxton often skipped meetings and was indifferent to many of the job’s day-to-day duties.
“He was gone a lot, he was traveling, he was out,” former Deputy Attorney General Mark Penley told investigators.
Paxton’s office has pushed back, arguing that calendar entries don’t capture the full scope of his work, including calls, negotiations, and briefings. “His schedule is built to be immediately responsive to the most pressing issues in order to best serve Texans,” his office said in a statement.
The Kentucky Derby, the Mistress, and the Fourth of July in London
No discussion of Ken Paxton’s lifestyle is complete without addressing the personal scandal that has followed him through the 2026 campaign.
In September 2025, the Daily Mail first reported that Paxton had been romantically involved with Tracy Duhon, a Christian influencer and mother of seven, since May 2024. The two met at the Kentucky Derby, where Paxton was photographed alongside Duhon and her then-husband, Troy Duhon.
Paxton’s wife of nearly 40 years, State Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce in July 2025 on biblical grounds, accusing him of infidelity.
Since then, Paxton and Duhon have been spotted together repeatedly. In July 2026, they were filmed in London over the Fourth of July weekend, walking arm-in-arm near the London Eye. When Paxton noticed he was being filmed, he abruptly turned and stormed ahead, leaving Duhon behind.
The optics were brutal, and Democrats pounced. “Americans celebrated 250 years of independence from Britain this weekend,” Talarico’s campaign said in a statement. “Ken Paxton spent it with the British.”
The Texas Democratic Party was even more direct. “The last place any patriotic Texan would be during the week of America’s historic 250th anniversary is vacationing in England,” spokesperson Ryan Martin said. “Hardworking Texans are struggling to afford the basics because of Paxton-backed policies, but you won’t find Paxton caring. He’s off enjoying a lavish European vacation with his mistress.”
Paxton has never denied the relationship. Duhon has since divorced her husband and purchased a $2 million mansion in a Dallas suburb, which Paxton has listed as his official address, according to the Daily Mail.
The Campaign: $300 Million and Counting
All of this, the properties, the travel, the scandal, is unfolding against the backdrop of one of the most expensive Senate races in American history.
Republican-aligned groups are projected to spend more than $300 million on Paxton’s campaign, with $166 million planned between September and Election Day alone. That’s more than the combined spending currently planned for competitive Senate races in Michigan and Maine.
Much of that money is flowing through Texas PAC, a super PAC affiliated with the Senate Leadership Fund, which has aired more than 1,300 football spots and hundreds of ads during Judge Judy. Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., has donated $15 million.
The spending is so extraordinary that even veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove has questioned whether it makes sense. “No, but they’re going to have to do it, and that’s just the start,” Rove said at the Texas Tribune Festival.
Yet despite the massive financial advantage, the race remains neck and neck. Five weeks before Election Day, Paxton and Talarico are statistically tied in public polling, and Democratic operatives say their internal numbers haven’t shifted since the spending surge began.
What It All Means
Ken Paxton has built a lifestyle that defies easy categorization. He’s a government employee with a multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio. A family man whose marriage ended in a public adultery scandal. A Texas official who has spent more days out of state than many voters realize.
His defenders say the criticism is political noise. “There is clearly a pattern of behavior here that may make some voters question how seriously Ken Paxton has taken the job,” said Joshua Blank, director of research for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. “At the same time, Ken Paxton has been accused of a lot of things and those accusations have not hurt him in any significant way yet.”
But in a race this tight, with this much money, and with this many questions swirling around his personal and professional life, Ken Paxton’s lifestyle isn’t just a footnote. It’s the story. And Texas voters will decide on November 3 whether it’s a story they can live with.
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