The Democratic nominee for attorney general, Justin Nelson, made a stop in San Antonio with an ad that was hard to miss.
He stopped at the Bexar County Democratic Party Headquarters in what his campaign calls a “mugshot mobile.” The side of the vehicle had Attorney General Ken Paxton’s booking photo and the words “Kevin Paxton Indicted” on it.
The Austin attorney is traveling to more than 30 cities across Texas with this vehicle. The same design on the mobile is on 33 billboards across the state. A television ad was also launched against Paxton and highlighted the attorney general’s criminal charges.
“Nobody is above the law. We need a Texas attorney general who will enforce the law, not break the law,” Nelson said.
Three years ago, Paxton turned himself in after a grand jury indicted him for securities fraud. He’s currently awaiting trial.
“He faces 99 years in prison right now, yet he's the chief lawyer for Texas. It's the attorney general, meaning he's in charge of the lawyers of the state,” Nelson said. “We can do so much better than Mr. Paxton. You know the old saying: Don't mess with Texas? Really, it's don't embarrass Texas.”
Paxton’s campaign spokesman, Jordan Berry, sent a statement in response to the “mugshot mobile”:
All this rhetoric is desperation from a liberal trial lawyer who got wealthy suing businesses and extorting financial settlements from job creators. Texans know the great job General Ken Paxton has done taking down human trafficking rings, prosecuting voter fraud, and keeping our communities safe.
Paxton also rolled out with a new television ad that says Nelson had an “extreme liberal agenda” who supported open borders and was against deporting violent gang members.
Nelson’s press director, Margaret Justus, sent us a response to the new ad:
"If you Google 'desperate', your results will look a lot like this ad. When you're indicted for fraud and facing a century behind bars, investigated for bribery and corruption and hiding from voters and the media, what do you do? If you're Ken Paxton, you lie about your opponent. It's both predictable and pathetic. It should be no surprise that a guy who swindled his friends out of hundreds of thousands of dollars is also willing to resort to bald-faced lying. Things like honesty and integrity mean nothing to Indicted Ken Paxton."
This weekend, Nelson will be stopping in Waco, Stephenville, Cleburne, Corsicana, Plano, Sherman, Nacogdoches, and Hillsboro.