Paxton impeachment defense lawyer to launch bid for Texas House
As acquitted-Attorney General Ken Paxton seeks political revenge against the Republican representatives who voted to impeach him, one of his lead lawyers in the Senate impeachment trial is setting the stage to run for office in the lower chamber.
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As acquitted-Attorney General Ken Paxton seeks political revenge against the Republican representatives who voted to impeach him, one of his lead lawyers in the Senate impeachment trial is setting the stage to run for office in the lower chamber.
On Tuesday, Paxton impeachment lawyer Mitch Little filed a campaign treasurer appointment for House District 65 — officially allowing him to start fundraising as a candidate. Freshman Rep. Kronda Thimesch, R-Lewisville, currently holds the seat north of Dallas and Fort Worth.
Thimesch was one of the 121 members who voted to impeach Paxton in May. Notably, Little was formerly on Thimesch's team as her campaign treasurer but resigned from the position in August before the Senate trial began.
Since his acquittal, Paxton has targeted his new Republican foes in the House in an effort to get revent for their vote to impeach him. The attorney general has vowed to back primary opponents to the 60 House Republicans who voted against him, and has already formally endorsed nearly a dozen GOP primary challengers.
Little took on an aggressive style of questioning witnesses during the impeachment trial, which memorably led to the answer from whistleblower Ryan Vassar that he and other top deputies "took no evidence" to the FBI when reporting their former boss. Supporters of Paxton regularly referred to Vassar's response as proof that the trial was a sham; whereas prosecutors later asked Vassar clarify that he meant no physical evidence, but he and the whistleblowers brought their eyewitness accounts as evidence. The majority of articles of impeachments were centered around the whistleblowers' accusations that the attorney general abused his office to help a friend and campaign donor Nate Paul, an embattled Austin real estate developer.
Thiemesh is a former school board member of Lewisville ISD and announced she'd be running for a second term in June. Little has represented Paxton in numerous legal capacities for years and is currently a partner at a Frisco-based law firm, Scheef & Stone.
Nexstar reached out to both Little and Thimesch for comment but has not heard back yet.