Senators began deliberating on Friday around noon following a brief round of closing arguments. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had instructed the jurors/senators to deliberate until 8 p.m. Friday, and if they had not reached a verdict, to resume on Saturday morning at 9 a.m. It seems as though not much was needed on Saturday in the way of deliberations as the office of the lieutenant governor posted a message on X (formerly Twitter) at 9:37 a.m. announcing the members of the jury would vote on articles of impeachment at 10:30 a.m.
In keeping with a trend that has built up steam during the trial’s run, the votes did not take place at the announced time. At 10:41 a.m., an announcement was made that “a momentary delay” meant the votes would instead occur at 11:10 a.m.
A vote was taken on 16 articles drafted by the House managers in May. With 30 senators eligible to vote on the jury, 21 votes were the threshold for conviction on each article of impeachment (Sen. Angela Paxton of McKinney, the AG’s wife, was prohibited from voting). Only one conviction was needed to remove Paxton from office immediately. The prosecution faced an uphill battle in persuading several Republican senators to convict. GOP senators Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills and Robert Nichols of Jacksonville were the only Republicans to consistently vote “yay” to convict, joining the Senate's 12 Democrats.
Although the results fairly suggest Paxton won acquittal easily, most of the articles were split by 14 votes to convict against 16 votes to acquit. But a supermajority of 21 votes was required, and ultimately, none of the totals yielded more than 14 “yay” votes. Dallas Sens. Nathan Johnson and Royce West, both Democrats, voted “yay” to convict on almost all of the articles. Johnson voted “nay’ on article four, regarding “disregard of official duty.”
Unlike the Republican-controlled House, which overwhelmingly voted to impeach Paxton 121-23, most of the Republican Senate jury did not feel compelled to see what the political grass was like on the other side of this most contentious matter.
“It’s clear that the fix was in from the beginning." – Gilberto Hinojosa, Texas Democratic Party chairman
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For nearly two weeks, the House impeachment managers and Paxton’s defense team squared off in what ended up being a somewhat predictable run of witness testimony. Few surprising details were added to the many allegedly impeachment-worthy scenarios over the course of eight days of testimony from some of the Paxton whistleblowers and other parties, including a few current OAG staffers.
Without the testimony from Nate Paul, the real estate investor and Paxton campaign contributor who allegedly bribed the AG, from Laura Olson, Paxton’s alleged mistress, or from Paxton himself, bombshell testimony isn’t likely to be a part of what people remember about this trial years from now.
Of course, plenty of notable Lone Star politicos had thoughts on the outcome.
Jonathan Strickland, the former state representative from Tarrant County, started celebrating online before the final few articles had been voted on, writing on his X account “Today the campaign to completely rid Texas of RINOs begins. Those behind this sham #KenPaxtonImpeachment must be held accountable.”
Democrat Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio, who has already announced his intentions to run against Ted Cruz for the United States senate next year, also posted a statement to his X account: "A broken and corrupt system allowed Ken Paxton to abuse the powers of his office. Hard-right Republicans decided today that it’s okay to take bribes and lie to the public, as long as you are the Republican Attorney General of Texas."
We must continue fighting until all corrupt Texas politicians are removed from office. pic.twitter.com/r7jrulJtvk
— Senator Roland Gutierrez (@RolandForTexas) September 16, 2023
After the votes had been tabulated, Lt. Gov. Patrick spoke from the Senate floor, where he was critical of the House’s impeachment process, calling it “a flawed system.”
Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, released a statement excoriating the process, but for different reasons than Patrick did.
“It’s clear that the fix was in from the beginning, and that as long as Republicans control our government, Republican elected officials won’t face consequences for ethical or criminal offenses,” Hinojosa said in the statement. “In true Texas Republican fashion, Paxton crime organization beneficiary Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and his Republican minions placed the reputation of their friend and the will of his campaign donors above the rule of law.”
Ken Paxton, who was present for the Saturday votes, released a statement, celebrating his victory by saying “Today, truth prevailed. The truth could not be buried by mudslinging politicians or their powerful benefactors. I’ve said many times: Seek the truth! And that is what was accomplished.”
Paxton will resume his office but will not be paid a salary for the more than three months he was suspended.
