Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a press conference in Fort Worth last month. Credit: X / @KenPaxtonTX

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s running for U.S. Senate, is catching fresh flak this week for failing to answer questions about the state’s new THC ban — even though he’s the Lone Star State’s chief legal officer.

Over the weekend, a clip posted on X by independent political journalist Aaron Rupar shows a young man asking Paxton to share his thoughts on Texas’ controversial ban on hemp products that contain THC, the compound in cannabis that gets people high.

“Um, I don’t know the details of it, but let’s talk about it later,” Paxton responds before scurrying away from the unidentified man.

Last month, a Texas Supreme Court ruling enabled the Texas Department of State Health Services to enforce a Schedule I drug classification on THC-derived products including Delta-8 and Delta-10 products, as well as smokable Delta-9 products.

Under that reclassification, Texas can treat possession of the products as a state jail felony, which carries a punishment of 180 days to two years in prison along with fines of up to $10,000.

Even so, some ingestible Delta-9 products, including beverages and gummies, can still be purchased legally in Texas.

Paxton’s office has been responsible for litigating every hemp-related lawsuit in Texas since 2019 and sued five Texas cities in 2024 that locally decriminalized marijuana possession through ballot referendums.

That wasn’t lost on X users, who ridiculed the attorney general for claiming he didn’t know much about the state’s latest THC ban.

“Uhhh… you don’t know the details of a law in the state where you are in charge of enforcing the laws?” Texas Democratic House nominee Sara McGee fired back. “And this particular law is currently involved in litigation involving YOUR office.”

Paxton’s latest flub comes with Election Day less than three months away. His campaign’s fundraising lags behind that of his opponent, Democratic State Rep. James Talarico. What’s more, RealClearPolitics shows Talarico with an average 46% to 44.8% lead in polls.

If Paxton loses this election, Talarico would be the first Democrat elected to statewide office in Texas in more than three decades.

Earlier this month, right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan warned Republicans that Texas’ THC ban could further hurt Paxton’s chances of winning the general election.

“Kids will turn on you if you tell them they can’t smoke weed,” Rogan said. “You will fuck this place up, and you will turn the whole fucking thing blue.”

Meanwhile, Talarico, in a recent interview with El Paso-based NBC affiliate KTSM-TV, accused Paxton of supporting Texas’ THC ban to enrich donors in the alcohol and tobacco industries.

“It doesn’t make sense until you follow the money and realize that it is big beer and big tobacco that are funding the politicians like Ken Paxton, who turned around and banned these safe THC products in order to enrich the big beer and big tobacco lobby,” Talarico told the TV station.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...