Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hit the campaign trail Monday night in his bid to become the next Senator from the Lone Star State. The GOP nominee spent a portion of his evening commenting on a scandal from his current gig as he stumps for a new job.
Paxton sat for an on-stage interview in Dallas on Monday with Javier Palomarez, the president of the U.S. Hispanic Business Council. Paxton addressed a number of topics in the interview-which was broadcast on CSPAN-including a controversy surrounding Adam Hoffman, a former Waco Attorney who received a plea agreement from Paxton’s office before a 29-day stay in jail this spring.
Hoffman was arrested in June 2022 and charged with continuous sexual abuse of a young boy, a first-degree felony that could carry a 25 years to life in prison. Hoffman’s case went to trial in June 2025, and a deadlocked jury brought a retrial. But rather than retry the case, Paxton’s office chose to negotiate a plea agreement with Hoffman, in which he pleaded guilty to two Class A misdemeanors in April.
Paxton’s office was criticized for the plea agreement, in which Hoffman was ultimately released from prison after just 30 days. The GOP Senate nominee defended his office’s decision in Monday’s interview, noting a retrial wasn’t an option given the “victim did not want to retestify.”
“The criticism has been that I let a child predator out after one day. Well, guess what? They served 60 days,” Paxton said. “It wasn’t what we wanted. We did not control that situation. We did our best to present the case. The jury decided what it was,” he said, referring to a hung jury.
“We wanted to retry it, and we decided… we needed to protect this kid.”
Paxton might have a fair point regarding the minutiae of Hoffman’s case. But the explanation is unlikely to gain Paxton many points in the court of public opinion, continuing a theme from Monday night.
Paxton drew additional criticism for his comments about data centers on Monday night, in which he said there is “plenty of open space” in rural Texas to place data centers. Paxton, once again, may be correct in that technicality. But good luck making that pitch to residents of rural Texas, who may soon see data centers sprouting up in their backyard.
Paxton shared a stage with Palomarez on Monday. Will he do the same this fall with Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico? That remains unclear as of Monday, though Paxton now has an open invite for a debate with Talarico. The U.S. House Rep. challenged Paxton to a debate last week during an appearance at The Texas Tribune Festival, in which Talarico said a potential debate could be moderated by Fox News’ Bret Baier.
“Texans deserve to make an informed choice in this really critical race, so I’m challenging Ken Paxton to a game on his own turf,” Talarico said “He’s been running from accountability his whole life. It’s time to stop running.”
Paxton’s campaign said in July it will accept a debate with Talarico, though no debate is scheduled as of Monday.
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This article originally published at Ken Paxton cites 60-day sentence for child predator as proof he’s tough on crime.
