Texas Attorney General Paxton defeats Bush in GOP runoff

AUSTIN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won his Republican runoff election against Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush on Tuesday despite facing a slew of legal problems, including an FBI investigation and a trial on securities fraud charges. 

With over 50% of votes counted, Paxton had over 430K votes and Bush had over 205K votes.

Bush is the only member of his famous family still in office, but the loss means he will now exit in January. That will leave the Bush dynasty out of elected office for only one of the few times in the last 40 years. 

The coming end of the Bush era -- at least for now -- came at the hands of a two-term incumbent still dogged by a 2015 felony indictment and a separate FBI investigation into accusation of corruption. But importantly in Texas, Paxton had the backing of former President Donald Trump, who has mocked and antagonized the Bush family on his way to taking their mantle as the GOP's standard-bearer. 

Paxton, who has denied wrongdoing, is now within reach of a third term in Texas, where a Democrat hasn't won statewide office in nearly 30 years. More recently, the State Bar of Texas is weighing possible reprimands against Paxton over his baseless attempts to overturn the 2020 election.