The Texas Tribune · Eleanor Klibanoff · September 8, 2026
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David Maxwell, the former top cop under Attorney General Ken Paxton , has endorsed Paxton’s opponent, James Talarico , for U.S. Senate.
Maxwell spent nearly 50 years working in law enforcement in Texas, as a Texas Ranger, a sergeant in the Texas Department of Public Safety and the director of law enforcement for the attorney general’s office for nearly a decade.
In 2020, he and other top agency employees reported Paxton to the FBI, claiming he had improperly used the office to benefit his friend and political donor, Nate Paul. After Maxwell and others who reported Paxton were fired, they filed a lawsuit under the Texas Whistleblower Act.
Last year, a judge ordered Texas to pay the whistleblowers $6.6 million . Paxton did not appeal the judgement, but he has not admitted wrongdoing. Investigations into misconduct related to his relationship with Paul have been closed without action.
Maxwell testified against Paxton at his 2023 impeachment trial, saying that the attorney general pushed him to pursue investigations on Paul’s behalf. Maxwell warned Paxton he “was going to get himself indicted,” he said on the stand during the impeachment trial. Paxton was acquitted by the Republican-controlled Texas Senate.
In a new ad, Talarico’s campaign says Maxwell is “the best of the best,” who “knows a bad guy when he sees one.” The Austin lawmaker has put Paxton’s history of legal and ethical woes at the center of his U.S. Senate campaign, in which he is running neck and neck with Paxton.
“Ken Paxton ended my five-decade career in public service because I blew the whistle on his corruption,” Maxwell said in a statement. “Today, I’m endorsing James Talarico because Texans deserve a Senator who serves the people — not a crook who serves himself.”
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Eleanor Klibanoff is the law and politics reporter, based in Austin, where she covers the the Texas Legislature, the Office of the Attorney General, state and federal courts and politics writ large. She... More by Eleanor Klibanoff
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