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Every time it looks like Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is getting the best of Beto O’Rourke in court, the former El Paso congressman pulls off another victory.
For weeks now, Paxton, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate, has been using state tax dollars to sue O’Rourke and his Powered By People PAC, claiming they were "operating a misleading financial-influence scheme" that supported the Texas House Democrats who fled the state in August to delay a vote on congressional redistricting maps.
Paxton initially won a lower court ruling that placed a restraining order on O’Rourke and his group to keep them from raising or spending money as Paxton sought to revoke Powered By People’s ability to operate in the state. But the Fifteenth Court of Appeals late Friday sided with O’Rourke's group that the restraining order had infringed on their free speech under the Texas Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.
“We agree,” the three-judge panel, appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, stated in their order.
“Tools, whether legal or political, for eliminating quorum breaks may exist. But our Texan founding fathers — like our American founding fathers — took prior restraints on political speech out of the tool kit when they enshrined the right to free speech in our Constitution,” the judges wrote in their 23-page ruling.
O’Rourke has acknowledged that his group sent more than $1 million to Democratic groups in the Texas House. But he’s said the money had no strings attached and didn’t demand any actions as Paxton has claimed. He said they simply were supporting Democrats like any other political action committee is allowed to do in the name of supporting free speech.
The case continues, even though the Democrats who fled the state have returned and the redistricting maps are now passed.
“Democrats abandoned Texas at the behest of financial backers who promised them money for fleeing the state and abdicating their responsibilities,” Paxton said earlier this month when the court initially appeared to be leaning in his direction. He did not respond to a request for comment on Friday’s ruling.
Paxton may still be winning a larger battle against O’Rourke by forcing him and Powered By People into court, where they’ve now had to spend nearly $400,000 in legal fees on the case, according O'Rourke. And until Friday’s ruling, the group’s accounts were frozen, making it unable to do any of its usual activities.
Powered by People has become a major voter registration organization, helping train people to register voters and sign up voters in advance of the next election cycle.
“It is because Powered by People and I are fighting so fiercely that Paxton is trying to silence me, destroy our organization and put me behind bars,” O’Rourke said on his Substack social media account last month. “He fears our successful voter registration and turnout programs as well as our strong support of the Texas Democratic legislators.”
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's Up, Who's Down
A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.
Up: Buoy Barriers.
The federal government is following Gov. Greg Abbott’s lead and preparing to deploy 17 miles of buoy barriers into the Rio Grande. Abbott started the effort in 2023 when he put 1,000 feet of barriers into the river near Eagle Pass to deter border crossers. Now, the Department of Homeland Security is close to awarding a contract to deploy 17 miles of barriers from the mouth of the Rio Grande to near Brownsville.
Down: Michael McCaul.
The Austin Republican, whose district stretches to Katy, announced on Sunday he will not seek re-election in 2026. McCaul, first elected to Congress in 2004, had previously been the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. He used that position to hammer President Joe Biden’s administration over the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and frequently angered the Chinese government to the point where they issued personal sanctions against him, which prevents him from ever traveling there. “It’s been an honor of a lifetime to serve my district, to chair two prestigious committees,” the 63-year-old McCaul told Maria Recio of the Austin American-Statesman.
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The Texas Education Agency said Monday it is reviewing at least 180 complaints of public school teachers and staff posting negative comments about conservative activist Charlie Kirk following his assassination last week. It comes days after Education Commissioner Mike Morath warned superintendents that educators who are found to have posted or shared “vile content” would be referred to the agency’s investigative division for potential violations of the educator’s code of ethics.
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