Federal regulators flagged about $883,000 in apparently illegal donations to Paxton’s Senate campaign, and a $250,000 gift to his super PAC came in under a made-up name

What happened

In letters dated Aug. 17, 2025, Jan. 11, 2026 and March 25, 2026, FEC reviewers flagged contributions to Ken Paxton for Senate that appeared to be excessive or from prohibited sources, including LLC donations, totaling about $883,000. ^{01 02 03}

In a July 20, 2026 reply to another FEC letter, the campaign’s treasurer said it had refunded $17,500 to donors whose contributions went over the $3,500-per-election limit. ^{04 05}

The Texas Ethics Commission fined Paxton $11,300 for three late campaign-finance reports and referred the unpaid fines to the attorney general’s office, his own office, for collection. He paid on June 25, 2024, after the Texas Tribune asked his office about them. The Tribune found the commission had referred about 2,500 unpaid fines to his office since 2015, and the office had filed enforcement suits in about 7% of them. ⁰⁶

Politico reported on Oct. 2, 2026, that a $250,000 donation to Lone Star Liberty, the main pro-Paxton super PAC, was filed under the name “Paul McLaren,” with a rented mailbox in a Plano strip mall as the address. The actual donor was Texas businessman Ben Pogue, who called the name an “inside joke.” His father, Paul Pogue, pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return and was pardoned by President Trump in 2020; the White House said Paxton supported the pardon. ⁰⁷

The FEC has lacked a quorum since May 2025, so it cannot investigate complaints or impose fines, including on the dark-money complaint filed against Paxton’s campaign in September. ⁰⁸

Why it matters

The state’s top law enforcement officer left his own ethics fines unpaid while running the office that collects them, and his federal campaign has repeatedly drawn regulators’ questions about illegal contributions. ^{01 06}

What the sources show

The FEC letters are requests for explanation, not violation findings; the refunds are the campaign’s own filing. ^{01 04} The fines and their payment date come from Texas Tribune reporting. ⁰⁶

The false-name donation is Politico’s reporting; the super PAC says it will correct the filing. ⁰⁷