Alleging adultery, the wife of Texas’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, says she is filing for divorce from her husband on “biblical grounds” after 38 years of marriage. State Senator Angela Paxton announced the separation in a post on X.

“I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation,” Ms. Paxton says. “But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.”

Ms. Paxton didn’t elaborate on the so-called discoveries, but in a copy of the divorce petition obtained by Austin radio station KUT she accused the attorney general of adultery and says the couple stopped living together in 2024.

“I move forward with complete confidence that God is always working everything together for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose,” she says.

Mr. Paxton is running against Senator Cornyn in next year’s Republican primary after calling the sitting senior senator insufficiently supportive of the MAGA agenda. Mr. Cornyn has brushed off the challenge, saying Mr. Paxton is a fraud and a philanderer unworthy of Texans’ trust.

Reaction to Ms. Paxton’s statement in some national Republican circles left little doubt as to whom the party would prefer to see as the Republican senate candidate in the fall of 2026.

“What Ken Paxton has put his family through is truly repulsive and disgusting,” the communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Joanna Rodriguez says in an X posting. “No one should have to endure what Angela Paxton has, and we pray for her as she chooses to stand up for herself and her family during this difficult time.”

Mr. Paxton was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives in 2023 for allegedly taking bribes, using his office to benefit a campaign donor, and abusing his power to retaliate against whistleblowers.

Mr. Paxton was acquitted by the state senate, though during the trial, his wife — a member of the chamber — was required to sit through testimony about his alleged extramarital affair with a former senate aide. Investigators claimed the affair ended in 2019 after Ms. Paxton discovered it, but it allegedly resumed in 2020.

Mr. Paxton has faced other legal issues over the years, including being indicted by the state government for financial crimes — charges which were later dropped.

In his own vague X post about the news, Mr. Paxton says, “After facing the pressures of countless political attacks and public scrutiny, Angela and I have decided to start a new chapter in our lives.”

“I ask for your prayers and privacy at this time,” his post continues.

A strong ally of President Trump, Mr. Paxton is also known nationally for his unsuccessful efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin before the Supreme Court.

Mr. Paxton was elected attorney general in 2015. Ms. Paxton took over his North Texas senate seat in 2019.