Paxton took nearly 1,000 trips with a taxpayer-funded security detail. Only 1 in 6 had a stated business purpose.

What happened

Department of Public Safety records obtained by the Texas Observer show Paxton’s security detail cost about $2.8 million from January 2015 through August 2025, with spending near $500,000 in 2024. ⁰¹

The costs include $80,000 for a trip to South Africa and $180,000 for a March 2023 tour of Europe and Israel. A February 2024 trip to Big Sky, Montana, costing $11,927, coincided with a Republican Attorneys General Association “Victory Fund Ski Retreat.” ⁰¹

After Paxton launched his Senate campaign in April 2025, the detail’s travel included Augusta, Georgia ($17,000), Palm Beach, Florida ($18,000) and Washington ($17,000). Neither his campaign nor his office responded to questions. ⁰¹

A ProPublica and Texas Tribune investigation published Oct. 9, 2026, found that Paxton has taken nearly 1,000 trips with a Department of Public Safety security detail since 2015, at a cost of $3.3 million. Records tie only 138 trips, costing $553,000, to state business, about 1 in 6. More than 800 trips had no documented purpose. ^{02 03}

He took at least 17 trips while suspended from office during his 2023 impeachment, including to Park City, Utah, and Vail, Colorado. In 2025, 5 of his 91 trips with the detail had a listed business purpose, and only 2 of 25 international trips did. His detail averaged about $24,300 a month, compared with about $7,400 a month, adjusted for inflation, for Greg Abbott’s detail when Abbott was attorney general. ^{02 03}

Paxton’s travel overlapped with places where he or his family trust has bought property: 53 trips to Florida, two with a business purpose, and 24 to Utah. State officials found no record that Paxton or his campaign repaid any security costs. ^{02 03}

A separate Associated Press investigation found more than 275 out-of-state trips and about 730 workdays left blank on his official calendars since 2015. A hotel stay in Augusta, Georgia, during Masters week, around the launch of his Senate campaign, cost taxpayers at least $25,000. ⁰⁴

Why it matters

Taxpayers paid millions for security on travel that records do not tie to state business, including trips while Paxton was suspended from office and trips to places where he owns property. Neither he nor his campaign has repaid any of it. ^{02 03}

What the sources show

The trip counts and costs come from state police logs and the attorney general’s receipts and calendars, obtained under the Public Information Act. A trip without a listed business purpose is not proof it was personal; the office did not provide records showing those trips were official. ^{02 03}