AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton has steadily ramped up public threats, investigations and lawsuits around many of the conservative causes energizing Republicans as his U.S. Senate campaign barrels toward its May runoff.

In the weeks before the March primary against Sen. John Cornyn, Paxton’s communications operation surged to its highest level since the early days of the Biden administration, with almost daily announcements on immigration, abortion, DEI policies, Sharia, student protests and other contentious issues.

The barrage of news releases – 102 since early January – reverberates through conservative media and beyond. Social influencers amplify the investigations. School districts rush to gather records. Cities reverse policies. Corporations scramble to respond in court.

The timing has fed criticism that Paxton is deploying the attorney general’s office more for political gain than enforcement as he tries to oust Cornyn, drawing near-constant free media coverage instead of spending on paid advertising.

Cornyn, who has outraised and outspent Paxton, finished first in the primary but fell short of a majority of the vote, forcing them into a May 26 rematch marked by escalating attacks over corruption allegations, infidelity, ethics and loyalty to President Donald Trump.

The actions can generate far more attention than resolution. An analysis by The Dallas Morning News found that while some AG demands quickly force changes or compliance, others stretch on for months, quietly fade away or produce little or no public explanation about what ultimately happened.

Paxton’s office declined to make him available for an interview or respond to emailed questions from The News about his approach to publicizing investigations, tracking outcomes and staffing the efforts and their costs.

A campaign spokesman, Nick Maddux, called the findings on the timing, volume and review of Paxton’s investigations “garbage” and not “worth printing.”

Supporters say Paxton is pursuing the fights Texas conservatives elected him to wage.

“He's been suing the pants off people. I like that,” said Laura Oakley, president of the Grapevine Republican Club.

Spotlight cases

So far this year, Paxton has touted consumer-focused settlements involving free eggs for Texans, fluoride levels in children’s toothpaste and data collection practices tied to smart TVs.

At the same time, some investigations dragged on without public updates or stirred partisan backlash.

In January, conservative activists circulated allegations online that high schools in Grapevine-Colleyville ISD and Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, near Houston, planned to host an event known as the Islamic Games, as they had in past years. Gov. Greg Abbott issued a news release, saying he would refer it to the attorney general’s office.

Within days, Paxton announced an investigation and demanded district records.

Cypress-Fairbanks ISD Superintendent Douglas Killian said no such event had been scheduled, and the district quickly turned over records while seeking guidance on rejecting the organizers without violating constitutional protections.

“If there's anything we submitted that was a cause for concern, part of our response was just, ‘Hey, if we’re doing something wrong, let us know,’” Killian said in April.The district sent the records in February, he said, “and we just really haven't heard anything.”

Last month, Paxton sued ActBlue, accusing the Democratic fundraising platform of allowing improper foreign donations. ActBlue countersued in federal court, alleging Paxton’s actions were designed to boost his standing with Republican voters.

“He is wasting taxpayer dollars to benefit his political ambitions,” said Lawrence Oliver, the group’s chief legal officer.

Rapid escalation

The pace of announcements from Paxton’s office has jumped notably during his run for the Senate.

In 2022, Paxton’s office announced 40 lawsuits, investigations, settlements and other notices. That number climbed to 96 for all of 2024. Last year, it reached 139.

Over the first four and a half months of 2026, the tally of news releases stood at 102– and counting.

February marked a monthlyhigh for public announcements from Paxton’s office, with a rapid-fire stream of34 releases as the March 3 GOP primary approached.

The investigations closely track the grievances animating his Republican base.

Among the topics in April: immigration, Islam, China, election maps, visa fraud, birthright citizenship and foreign influence.

Many releases suggested misconduct, from school walkouts to illegal tax hikes. Similar allegations sometimes have languished without updates, leaving those under scrutiny in limbo and the public unsure what became of them.

Paxton’s office has issued only one statement exonerating a company in the past year, announcing in April that Superior HealthPlan had violated no laws after the company was accused of improperly surveilling legislators, healthcare providers, patients and others.

Conservative appeals

Paxton has gone after many big-name companies, including Netflix, Apple, Spotify and Lululemon, raising questions about how some of the higher-profile cases relate to Texas-specific enforcement priorities.

“You use the tools available to you, right?” said Sara Johnson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “It also helps to consider who the campaign is directed at right now: the primary voters, the most Republican of the Republicans.”

Austin-based Republican consultant Wayne Hamilton said Paxton’s blitz is what any skilled politician would do to reinforce conservative credentials.

“Put the same spotlight on most of our elected officials, especially the ones in very highly contested races on either side of the aisle, and we're going to see the same thing,” Hamilton said.

The winner of the Cornyn-Paxton runoff will face Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state representative from Austin.

Scrutiny and silence

Some targets have pushed back publicly or in court, deriding Paxton's threats as political theater. Others said they swiftly produced requested documents, changed policies or sought legal guidance, only to wait months without response from Paxton’s office.

Most cases handled by the attorney general’s office are never disclosed. But school districts and municipalities are frequently named in the AG’s news releases, often over wedge issues that activate the Republican base.

Many of those AG inquiries begin with aggressive records requests that can carry subpoena-like force. Texas law gives the attorney general broad authority to demand them, particularly from corporations and nonprofits.

Using those powers, Paxton has announced new investigations more than 70 times since January 2025, several with multiple subjects, including one in December targeting more than 1,000 municipalities.

Nearly half of those investigations were announced this year, including nine in April. That’s the same number publicly announced during all of 2024. In 2023, there were six.

Failure to comply can trigger criminal penalties or even dissolution of a corporate charter, what former attorney general’s office litigator Chris Hilton called a “death penalty for corporations.”

In February, the AG’s office accused the Dallas Independent School District, North East ISD in San Antonio and Manor ISD in Central Texas of “facilitating and failing to keep students safe and accountable” during recent protests and school walkouts against immigration enforcement.

NEISD officials said they quickly responded to Paxton’s request for records on attendance policies and related matters but never heard anything. Paxton’s office has issued no public update.

The documents “reflected that NEISD did not support or encourage students to participate” in school-day protests, district spokesperson Aubrey Mika Chancellor said.

Echo chamber

Some of Paxton’s most visible actions have centered on issues already circulating in conservative media and activist circles.

He investigated the Latino voter advocacy organization Jolt Initiative in 2024 after Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo posted an unsubstantiated allegation on social media about organized efforts to register undocumented immigrants to vote.

When Jolt Initiative blocked his effort to obtain the identities of voter registration volunteers, Paxton sued to disband the group. A judge later declared Paxton’s office did “not offer any plausible proof” of wrongdoing and said the attorney general had acted “in bad faith.”

For his part, Cornyn accused Paxton in January of using the attorney general’s office as a campaign tool after Paxton issued a nonbinding legal opinion overturning DEI guidance Cornyn wrote as Texas attorney general in 1999.

“Was this bogus ‘opinion’ an illegal, in-kind contribution to his campaign? Inquiring minds (and the Federal Election Commission) want to know,” Cornyn posted on social media. “Abusing his government office for personal and political gain. AGAIN.”

Shifting focus

After Trump lost the White House in 2020, Paxton repeatedly sued Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration over immigration, elections and other politically charged issues.

The AG’s public announcements of lawsuits climbed sharply this year alongside the increase in news releases and investigations. Since early January, Paxton has announced 30 suits, more than double last year’s pace.

With Republicans back in power in Washington, many of Paxton’s most public legal fights have shifted elsewhere. None targeted the Trump-led federal government.

Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said the lower-stakes investigations and threats allow Paxton to keep driving coverage in a Senate race in which Cornyn holds a sizable financial edge.

He’s “doing something that conservative … voters like to see being done” without the cost, time or legal risks of major courtroom defeats, Jones said.

Staff writer Gromer Jeffers Jr. contributed to this report.

Legal escalation