TexasBitcoin

Reference · The Senate

Angela Paxton: The Senator Who Carried the Definition

Texas digital-asset law is written in the House and made in the Senate. The two 2021 statutes every later one assumes – the sentence that says what virtual currency is, and the work group that drew the agenda for the next two sessions – were Tan Parker's bills, and they became law because a first-term senator from McKinney, a math teacher who had spent two decades in classrooms and a counselor's office, carried them through the upper chamber in three weeks of May. No speech survives, because the calendar they passed on records none. Her own three blockchain bills that session died in committee. The industry made her its legislator of the year. She has not filed on the subject since. The sponsorship, the ledger, and the silence are the record.

By TexasBitcoin · Published September 24, 2026 · Updated September 24, 2026

The short answer

Angela Paxton is the Republican state senator from McKinney who was the Senate sponsor of HB 4474 and HB 1576, the 2021 laws that wrote virtual currency into the Texas Uniform Commercial Code and created the Work Group on Blockchain Matters, and the Lieutenant Governor's appointee to that work group. She has authored no digital-asset bill since 2021 and voted for the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, the 2023 mining registry and brake, and the 2025 large-load law.

Key facts

  • Angela Paxton was the Senate sponsor of HB 4474, which passed the Senate 31–0 on May 27, 2021 and was signed June 15, 2021.[10][14]
  • She was the Senate sponsor of HB 1576, substituted for her own SB 1076 in committee on May 11, 2021, passed 31–0 on May 19, and signed June 7, 2021.[7][9][8]
  • Her three authored blockchain bills of 2021 – SB 344, SB 1076, SB 1077 – all died in committee.[17][18][19]
  • Lt. Gov. Patrick appointed her to the Work Group on Blockchain Matters on October 29, 2021; the Texas Blockchain Council named her Legislator of the Year on November 18, 2022.[21][23]
  • She authored no digital-asset, blockchain, or mining bill in the 2023 or 2025 sessions.[24][25]
  • She voted yea on SB 21 on March 6, 2025 (25–5) and on its conference report May 30, 2025 (23–8), and yea on SB 6 on March 19, 2025 (31–0).[27][28][30]

From the classroom to the calendar

2018 → 2026
  1. The path

    The counselor takes Senate District 8

    Angela Paxton - a Baylor mathematics graduate, twenty-plus years a high-school math teacher and guidance counselor, and the wife of the Attorney General - wins the Republican primary for the open Collin County seat over Phillip Huffines, 54.3% to 45.7%, in what the Dallas Morning News tallies as the most expensive state Senate race in Texas history at twelve million dollars combined. She takes the general with 51.18% and is sworn in January 8, 2019, the first educator elected to the Senate in more than two decades, and is seated on Business and Commerce. [1][3][4][5][2]

  2. The path

    SB 860: the fintech sandbox that ran into her husband's office

    Her first financial-technology bill would have let the Attorney General exempt fintech companies from state securities rules. The Texas Tribune noted whose office that was; she answered that it had "literally nothing to do with why I filed the bill." It was referred to Business and Commerce on March 1, 2019 and never heard. Not a crypto bill, but the first sign of the register she would keep: the industry's framework, filed quietly, without a campaign behind it. [32][33]

  3. The carrier

    Three blockchain bills under her own name

    In the 87th session she files SB 344 with Nathan Johnson, to recognize electronic signatures secured by blockchain; SB 1076, a work group on blockchain matters, the Senate twin of Parker's HB 1576; and SB 1077, a work group on digital identity. SB 344 is referred to State Affairs March 9 and never heard. SB 1077 is referred to Business and Commerce March 18 and never heard. SB 1076 gets a hearing on May 4 and is left pending. [17][18][19]

  4. The carrier

    HB 1576: the work group, carried through the Senate

    Parker's work-group bill reaches the Senate on April 26. On May 11 the committee lays out HB 1576 in lieu of her SB 1076; Paxton sends up the substitute and moves it, 6–0 with three absent. On May 19 it passes the Senate on the Local and Uncontested Calendar, viva voce, recorded 31–0 and 31–0. The House concurs May 24; Abbott signs June 7. No floor speech is recorded, because that calendar records none. [7][9][8]

  5. The carrier

    HB 4474: the definition, carried through the Senate

    The bill that writes "virtual currency" into the Texas Uniform Commercial Code reaches Business and Commerce on May 13. On May 18 the chair lays it out by its Senate sponsor and recognizes Senator Nichols to explain it; the Texas Blockchain Council's Christopher Calicott and Unchained Capital's Joseph Kelly testify for it, the bankers register for it, no one against. On May 20 it is reported 9–0. On May 27 it passes 31–0 and 31–0 on the same uncontested calendar. Abbott signs June 15; effective September 1, 2021. [10][11][13][12][14]

  6. The carrier

    "Championed especially by"

    The Texas Blockchain Council announces that it "spearheaded" the two laws, drafted with the Uniform Law Commission, "championed especially by Representative Tan Parker and Senator Angela Paxton." Her campaign site reposts the release. It is the only digital-asset item the site has ever carried, and it contains no words of hers. [15][16]

  7. The carrier

    A seat on the work group she carried into law

    On October 29, 2021 Lieutenant Governor Patrick names her the Senate's appointee to the sixteen-member Work Group on Blockchain Matters that HB 1576 created, alongside Parker, Bratcher, and SMU's Carla Reyes in the chair. The group meets monthly, holds public hearings in May and August 2022, and delivers its 84-page legislative report and master plan on November 15, 2022. Three days later, at the Texas Blockchain Summit, the council names her its Legislator of the Year. [21][22][23]

  8. The record

    Off the committee, on the record: SB 1751 and SB 1929

    Reassigned to Finance and State Affairs, she is no longer on the committee that hears the mining bills. She authors 93 bills and none on digital assets; the nearest is a data-center sales-tax exemption that dies in Finance. On April 12, 2023 Kolkhorst's brake on the miners and Johnson's registry both pass on the Local and Uncontested Calendar, 31–0 and 31–0, every senator deemed yea. That summer the Senate bars her from voting at her husband's impeachment trial, over her no. [2][24][29][34]

  9. The record

    The reserve and the kill switch: two yeas, no authorship

    Now chair of Economic Development, she authors 167 bills in the 89th session and none on Bitcoin. She is not a coauthor of SB 21. She votes yea when the reserve passes the Senate 25–5 on March 6, yea when SB 6 passes 31–0 on March 19, and yea again when the conference report on the reserve is adopted 23–8 on May 30. Texans for Fiscal Responsibility scores both against her. [1][25][26][27][30][28][31]

  10. The watch

    Not on the ballot, and not on the subject

    She won a four-year term with 59.36% in November 2024, so Senate District 8 is not among the sixteen seats up on November 3, 2026. Her news page has carried nothing on digital assets since 2021, her interim charges are hotel taxes and project-finance zones, and no statement of hers on Bitcoin, mining, or the reserve has been located since the summit that gave her the award. The 90th Legislature convenes January 12, 2027. [5][6][36][35]

Who is Angela Paxton, and why is she on this page?

Because two of the three statutes this site treats as the foundation of Texas Bitcoin law carry her name as Senate sponsor. Paxton is a Baylor mathematics graduate who taught high-school math and then counseled students for more than twenty years before leaving a Frisco guidance office to run for the open Collin County seat in 2018.[1] She beat Phillip Huffines in the Republican primary, 54.3% to 45.7%, in what was then the most expensive state Senate race in Texas history, twelve million dollars between them, and took the general with 51.18%.[3][4][5] The Senate seated her on Business and Commerce – the committee that would hear every digital-asset bill of the next two sessions – and the first financial bill she filed there, a fintech regulatory sandbox to be run by the Attorney General, drew the question that follows her everywhere, since the Attorney General was her husband. “That has literally nothing to do with why I filed the bill,” she told the Texas Tribune.[2][32][33] It never got a hearing. The rest of the family story – the 2023 impeachment trial at which the Senate barred her from voting, the 2025 divorce – is context here, not subject.[34][35] The subject is the session in between.

What did she carry in 2021?

Both of Parker's bills, and a third that did not make it. She had filed her own versions first: SB 344 with Nathan Johnson to recognize electronic signatures secured by blockchain, SB 1076 for a work group on blockchain matters, SB 1077 for a work group on digital identity.[17][18][19] The first and third were never heard; the second got a hearing on May 4 and was left pending, which in the Texas Senate is a way of waiting for the House bill. It arrived. On May 11 the committee laid out HB 1576 in lieu of her SB 1076, she sent up the substitute and moved it, and it went out 6–0.[9] On May 19 it passed the Senate on the Local and Uncontested Calendar, viva voce, recorded 31–0 and 31–0; the House concurred May 24 and Abbott signed June 7.[8][7] HB 4474 – the definition – reached the committee on May 13. On May 18 the chair laid it out by its sponsor and recognized Senator Nichols to explain it; the Texas Blockchain Council's Christopher Calicott and Unchained Capital's Joseph Kelly testified for it, the bankers' associations registered for it, and no one registered against.[11][13] It was reported 9–0 on May 20 and passed 31–0 on May 27; signed June 15, effective September 1, 2021.[12][14][10] The digital-identity work group, HB 2199, cleared the same committee 9–0 the same day and was pulled from the uncontested calendar on May 26; it died there.[20] What the definition says, and why it matters, is on Tan Parker and Bitcoin; this is the page for how it got through the other chamber.

THREE WEEKS IN MAY 2021 · TWO HOUSE BILLS, ONE SENATE SPONSORMay 1May 6May 11May 16May 21May 26May 31HB 1576 · THE WORK GROUPsigned June 7referredMay 6committee 6–0May 11 · in lieu of her SB 1076Senate 31–0May 19 · uncontested calendarHouse concursMay 24HB 4474 · THE DEFINITIONsigned June 15referredMay 13heardMay 18 · Nichols explainscommittee 9–0May 20Senate 31–0May 27 · uncontested calendarTexas Legislature Online bill histories · Senate Journal May 19 and May 27, 2021 · committee minutes May 11, 18, 20 · viva voce, recorded 31–0 and 31–0
Three weeks in May. Both of Parker's bills reached the Senate late in the session and cleared it in under a month, on the calendar reserved for bills nobody objects to. The sponsor's work happens in the committee rows – the substitution on May 11, the hearing on May 18 – and the floor rows record what an uncontested calendar records: the caption, the sponsor's name, and 31–0.

What did the sponsorship earn her?

A seat and an award. On July 14, 2021 the Texas Blockchain Council announced that it had “spearheaded” both laws, drafted with the Uniform Law Commission and “championed especially by Representative Tan Parker and Senator Angela Paxton.”[15] Her campaign site reposted the release; it is the only digital-asset item the site has ever carried, and it contains no sentence of hers.[16]On October 29, 2021 Lieutenant Governor Patrick named her the Senate's appointee to the sixteen-member work group her sponsorship had created, beside Parker, Lee Bratcher, and SMU's Carla Reyes in the chair; the group met monthly, held public hearings in May and August 2022, and delivered its 84-page report and master plan on November 15, 2022.[21][22] Three days later, at the second Texas Blockchain Summit, the council named her its Legislator of the Year and told a thousand people she had co-authored HB 4474, which she had not.[23] The organizer who handed her the award is on Lee Bratcher and Bitcoin; the lieutenant governor who appointed her is on Dan Patrick and Bitcoin.

What has she done on the subject since?

Voted. In 2023 she moved to Finance and State Affairs and off the committee that heard the mining bills; she authored 93 bills that session and none on digital assets, the nearest a data-center sales-tax exemption that died in Finance.[2][24] When Kolkhorst's brake on the miners and Johnson's registry passed on April 12, 2023, both went through on the Local and Uncontested Calendar, 31–0 and 31–0, every senator deemed yea, her included.[29] In 2025, now chair of Economic Development, she authored 167 bills and none on Bitcoin, and she was not among the coauthors of SB 21.[1][25][26] She voted for the reserve when it passed 25–5 on March 6, for the large-load law when it passed 31–0 on March 19, and for the reserve again when the conference report was adopted 23–8 on May 30.[27][30][28] Texans for Fiscal Responsibility scored the reserve and SB 6 against her.[31] The senator who wrote the brake is on Lois Kolkhorst and Bitcoin; the one who wrote the registry, and coauthored her 2021 signature bill, is on Nathan Johnson and Bitcoin; the reserve she voted for twice is on the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve reference.

THE SPONSOR'S LEDGER · WROTE, CARRIED, VOTEDAUTHORED · 4, 0 ENACTEDSB 860 · 2019sandbox · no hearingSB 344 · 2021e-signatures · no hearingSB 1076 · 2021work group · left pendingSB 1077 · 2021digital identity · no hearing88R · 202393 bills, none on the subject89R · 2025167 bills, none on the subjectCARRIED · 3, 2 ENACTEDHB 1576 · 2021signed June 7HB 4474 · 2021signed June 15HB 2199 · 2021pulled from calendarBoth statutes on the ledgerare Parker's House billswith her name as sponsor.VOTED · 5 YEAS, 0 NAYSSB 1751 · 2023yea · 31–0SB 1929 · 2023yea · 31–0SB 21 · Mar 2025yea · 25–5SB 6 · Mar 2025yea · 31–0SB 21 · conf.yea · 23–8Texas Legislature Online author reports 86R–89R · Senate Journals Apr 12, 2023, Mar 6, Mar 19, May 30, 2025 · green = enacted or yea, amber = not
The sponsor's ledger. Everything she wrote on the subject died in committee; everything enacted under her name was written in the House. Since 2021 the record is votes only – five of them, all yea, including both readings of the reserve and the 2023 brake on the miners – and those are the votes of a member who has never once put her name on the front of a digital-asset bill since the session that made her the industry's legislator of the year.

The honest counterweight: the ledger and the silence

Two things, and neither is a scandal. The ledger first: four bills under her own name on financial technology and blockchain since 2019, none enacted, none heard past a single pending hearing.[32][17][18][19] The two statutes that carry her name were written in the House, argued in committee by another senator, and passed on a calendar that requires no argument at all.[11][8][14]That is not a diminishment – the Texas Senate makes House bills into law this way every session, and a sponsor who gets two through in three weeks has done the job – but it is the whole of the record, and the industry's press release gave it a larger shape than the journal does. Second, the silence. The work group she sat on produced eight subcommittees' worth of legislative recommendations in November 2022; she filed none of them in 2023 or 2025.[22][24][25] No press release, floor remark, op-ed, or interview of hers on Bitcoin, mining, or the reserve has been located since the summit that gave her the award. Her interim charges this year are hotel taxes and project-finance zones. The votes are reliable and they are all the record contains.

The fair reading is the one the ledger gives. Paxton was the right sponsor at the right moment – a Business and Commerce member the industry could bring its House bills to in a session when the chamber had no other – and she delivered both without a mark against them. The definition she carried is the sentence the reserve, the registry, and the commingling ban all assume, and her name is on it in the journal forever. What she has not done is anything since, and a page that credits the sponsorship has to say so.

Where does the Paxton record stand today?

As of September 2026: chair of Economic Development, vice chair of State Affairs, re-elected to a four-year term with 59.36% in November 2024, and therefore not among the sixteen Senate seats on the November 3, 2026 ballot.[1][5][6][36] The 90th Legislature convenes January 12, 2027 with the work group's recommendations still mostly unfiled and the reserve she voted for in the hands of Comptroller Don Huffines. The member who wrote what she carried is on Tan Parker and Bitcoin; the one who carried the reserve through the House is on Giovanni Capriglione and Bitcoin. The statute-by-statute record they all sit inside is on the Texas Bitcoin law timeline. This page is the senator whose name is on the first two lines of it.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Angela Paxton?

Angela Paxton is a Republican from McKinney who has represented Texas Senate District 8 - parts of Collin County plus Hunt and Rains counties - since January 2019, after twenty-plus years as a high-school mathematics teacher and guidance counselor. She chairs the Senate Economic Development Committee. In Bitcoin history she was the Senate sponsor of HB 4474 and HB 1576, the 2021 laws that defined virtual currency in the Texas Uniform Commercial Code and created the Work Group on Blockchain Matters.

What did Angela Paxton do for HB 4474 and HB 1576?

She carried both House bills through the Senate in May 2021. HB 1576 was substituted for her own SB 1076 in Business and Commerce on May 11 and passed the Senate May 19; HB 4474 was heard May 18, reported 9–0 on May 20, and passed May 27. Both passed on the Local and Uncontested Calendar, recorded 31–0 and 31–0, which is why no floor remarks exist. Governor Abbott signed them June 7 and June 15, 2021.

Has Angela Paxton authored any Bitcoin or blockchain bills?

Three, all in 2021 and all dead in committee: SB 344 (electronic signatures secured by blockchain, with Nathan Johnson), SB 1076 (a work group on blockchain matters, the Senate version of HB 1576), and SB 1077 (a work group on digital identity). In 2019 she filed SB 860, a financial-technology regulatory sandbox run by the Attorney General's office, which also died. She authored no digital-asset, blockchain, or mining bills in the 2023 or 2025 sessions.

How did Angela Paxton vote on the Texas Strategic Bitcoin Reserve?

Yea, twice. She was not an author or coauthor of SB 21, but voted for it when it passed the Senate 25–5 on March 6, 2025, and again when the conference report was adopted 23–8 on May 30, 2025. She also voted for SB 6, the 2025 large-load law (31–0), and was recorded yea on SB 1751 and SB 1929, the 2023 mining bills, which passed on the uncontested calendar.

What has Angela Paxton said about Bitcoin?

Nothing that has been located. Her campaign site reposted the Texas Blockchain Council's July 2021 release crediting her, with no quote of her own. She was named the council's Legislator of the Year at the November 2022 Texas Blockchain Summit. No press release, op-ed, floor remark, or interview of hers on Bitcoin, mining, or the reserve has been found since.

Sources

Primary record first: the Texas Senate and the Legislative Reference Library for the bio and committees; Texas Legislature Online for every bill history, author report, and witness list; the Senate Journal and committee minutes for every vote; the Lieutenant Governor's office for the appointment; SMU for the work group's report; the Texas Tribune, KERA, the Dallas Morning News, and Community Impact for the elections and the context; trade press for the rest. This is a research and reference article, not financial, investment, or legal advice.

  1. [1]Texas Senate - Senator Angela Paxton, District 8: McKinney; Collin (part), Hunt, and Rains counties; twenty-plus years a secondary math teacher and school counselor; Baylor B.S., University of Houston–Clear Lake M.Ed.; Chair, Economic Development
  2. [2]Legislative Reference Library - Angela Paxton, member profile: committees by session - 86R and 87R Business & Commerce; 88R Finance, State Affairs (vice chair); 89R Economic Development (chair), State Affairs (vice chair)
  3. [3]KERA - Angela Paxton wins GOP bid for District 8, beating Huffines in expensive primary race (March 7, 2018): 54.3% to 45.7% over Phillip Huffines
  4. [4]Dallas Morning News - Angela Paxton, Phillip Huffines spent $12M in Collin County Senate race, priciest in state history (July 17, 2018)
  5. [5]Wikipedia - Texas Senate, District 8: general-election results 2018 (51.18% over Mark Phariss), 2022 (57.69%), 2024 (59.36% over Rachel Mello)
  6. [6]Community Impact - Incumbent Paxton wins 2nd State Senate District 8 term (November 5, 2024)
  7. [7]Texas Legislature Online - HB 1576 (87R) bill history: authors Parker, Capriglione, Bucy, Button, Wilson; Senate sponsor Paxton; the Work Group on Blockchain Matters; House passed April 23, 2021; Senate committee May 12, 6–0; Senate passed May 19; signed June 7, 2021
  8. [8]Texas Senate Journal - May 19, 2021: CSHB 1576 (Paxton) on the Local and Uncontested Calendar, viva voce, recorded 31–0 and 31–0
  9. [9]Senate Business & Commerce Committee minutes - May 11, 2021: HB 1576 laid out in lieu of SB 1076 by Senator Paxton; committee substitute adopted 6 ayes, 0 nays, 3 absent
  10. [10]Texas Legislature Online - HB 4474 (87R) bill history: authors Parker, Anchía, Stephenson, Capriglione, Perez; Senate sponsor Paxton; House passed May 11, 2021; Senate committee May 20, 9–0; Senate passed May 27; signed June 15, 2021, effective September 1, 2021
  11. [11]Senate Business & Commerce Committee minutes - May 18, 2021: HB 4474 laid out by Senate sponsor Paxton; Senator Nichols recognized to explain the bill; left pending
  12. [12]Senate Business & Commerce Committee minutes - May 20, 2021: HB 4474 reported favorably, 9 ayes, 0 nays
  13. [13]Texas Legislature Online - HB 4474 (87R) Senate witness list, May 18, 2021: for - Christopher Calicott (Texas Blockchain Council), Joseph Kelly (Unchained Capital); registered for - Lee Bratcher, Texas Bankers Association, IBAT, TechNet; none against
  14. [14]Texas Senate Journal - May 26–27, 2021 (PDF): HB 4474 (Paxton) on the Local and Uncontested Calendar, viva voce, recorded 31–0 and 31–0
  15. [15]PR Newswire - Texas Blockchain Council Spearheads Passage of Two Blockchain Laws (July 14, 2021): "championed especially by Representative Tan Parker and Senator Angela Paxton"
  16. [16]Angela Paxton for Texas Senate - repost of the Texas Blockchain Council release (2021): the only digital-asset item on the senator's news page
  17. [17]Texas Legislature Online - SB 344 (87R) bill history: author Paxton, coauthor Johnson; electronic signatures secured through blockchain technology; referred to State Affairs March 9, 2021, no further action
  18. [18]Texas Legislature Online - SB 1076 (87R) bill history: author Paxton; a work group on blockchain matters; heard in Business & Commerce May 4, 2021, left pending
  19. [19]Texas Legislature Online - SB 1077 (87R) bill history: author Paxton; a work group on digital identity; referred to Business & Commerce March 18, 2021, no hearing
  20. [20]Texas Legislature Online - HB 2199 (87R) bill history: Senate sponsor Paxton; a work group on digital identity; committee 9–0 May 20, 2021; removed from the Local and Uncontested Calendar May 26, 2021
  21. [21]Office of the Lieutenant Governor - Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick announces appointments to the Work Group on Blockchain Matters (October 29, 2021): Senator Angela Paxton with Barber, Calicott, Hatfield, Kelley, Villaseñor
  22. [22]SMU Dedman School of Law - Texas Work Group on Blockchain Matters Releases 2022 Legislative Report and Master Plan (November 15, 2022): 84 pages; chair Carla Reyes
  23. [23]EIN Presswire via KRON4 - Texas Blockchain Summit Day 2 (November 18, 2022): Senator Angela Paxton named the Texas Blockchain Council's Legislator of the Year; the release miscredits her as a coauthor of HB 4474
  24. [24]Texas Legislature Online - Bills authored by Sen. Paxton, 88R (2023): 93 bills, none on digital assets, blockchain, or mining; nearest is SB 1143, a data-center sales-tax exemption that died in Finance
  25. [25]Texas Legislature Online - Bills authored by Sen. Paxton, 89R (2025): 167 bills, none on digital assets, blockchain, or mining
  26. [26]Texas Legislature Online - SB 21 (89R) authors: Schwertner; coauthors Hinojosa, Parker, West - Paxton is not among them
  27. [27]Texas Senate Journal - March 6, 2025: SB 21 passed 25–5 on second and third reading; Paxton yea; nays Creighton, Gutierrez, Hall, Hancock, Nichols
  28. [28]Texas Senate Journal - May 30, 2025: SB 21 conference report adopted 23–8; Paxton yea; nays Alvarado, Cook, Creighton, Eckhardt, Gutierrez, Hughes, Kolkhorst, Nichols
  29. [29]Texas Senate Journal - April 12, 2023: SB 1751 (Kolkhorst) and SB 1929 (Johnson) on the Local and Uncontested Calendar, each recorded 31–0 and 31–0
  30. [30]Texas Senate Journal - March 19, 2025: SB 6 (King, Schwertner) passed 31–0 on third reading
  31. [31]Texans for Fiscal Responsibility - Fiscal Responsibility Index, Angela Paxton, 2025: SB 21 and SB 6 votes scored against TFR's position; session score 81, career C
  32. [32]Texas Legislature Online - SB 860 (86R) bill history: author Paxton; a financial-technology regulatory sandbox administered by the Attorney General; referred to Business & Commerce March 1, 2019, no further action
  33. [33]Texas Tribune - Angela Paxton files bill that would let her husband's office exempt companies from securities regulations (February 16, 2019): "That has literally nothing to do with why I filed the bill"
  34. [34]Texas Tribune - Texas Senate adopts rules for Ken Paxton's impeachment trial (June 21, 2023): 25–3; a member's spouse may not vote on any matter or join closed deliberations; Angela Paxton among the three no votes
  35. [35]Texas Tribune - Sen. Angela Paxton files for divorce from Attorney General Ken Paxton (July 10, 2025)
  36. [36]Wikipedia - 2026 Texas Senate election: the sixteen seats on the November 3, 2026 ballot; District 8 is not among them