Ad by state Sen. Angela Paxton in the Texas Senate race splitting some Republicans
State Senator Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, has a lot of people talking about the new TV ad she appeared in to help Republicans, including her soon-to-be ex-husband, Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
After filing for divorce on biblical grounds and announcing it publicly, Angela Paxton is advising Republicans to vote for their party's entire ticket, like she is, without mentioning his name.
In the ad, she said, "In a general election, it's not as much about the individual players on the team. It's about getting the whole team over the finish line. Either we hold every Republican seat, or we hand the future of Texas to the other team."
Former Fort Worth Mayor and Republican Betsy Price told CBS News Texas that she was taken aback.
"I was a bit surprised," Price said. "But when you stop and think about it. It tells you that the party has suddenly woken up and said, 'We're in trouble. Our candidate is not strong enough to do this.'"
Price said she won't vote for either Ken Paxton or Democrat James Talarico.
"I never skip races, and I certainly will go vote, but this may be the rare exception," said Price.
In an interview with CBS News Texas, former Dallas County Republican Party Chair Jennifer Stoddard Hadju said she thinks the ad will convince Republicans who have doubts about Ken Paxton to come home or at least think twice.
"I think it will help," she said. "I certainly think it will help. It certainly won't hurt. I think it's very effective. Of all of the people, she for sure has probably personal feelings about this, but she knows better than anybody, being a state senator herself, that we need to cast aside all personal feelings, and we need to vote for policy. It's very powerful coming from Sen. [Angela] Paxton herself."
Talarico criticized the ad, saying in part, "Asking Texans to close their eyes and vote for a political party instead of the best person for the job is exactly what's wrong with today's politics. My team isn't any political party. My team is Texas."
Jane Hope Hamilton ran President Joe Biden's Texas statewide campaign in 2020 and said she thinks the ad will backfire.
"You have people who may have forgotten the details of the divorce or maybe set them aside and you have people who perhaps they didn't know, and now they are googling in real time," said Hamilton. "This is now again, front and center. I really feel like that was a huge miscalculation."
The group Ad Impact Politics reports that well over $200 million has been spent or is reserved for TV and digital ads for the general election in the Texas Senate race.
Republicans have helped Ken Paxton, with nearly $164 million dollars spent or reserved. Ken Paxton's campaign recently announced a more than $20 million statewide ad buy. Democrats have spent or have reserved $66 million. Most of that money was raised and is being spent by Talarico and his campaign directly.
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