Texas Monthly has revealed its Bum Steer of the Year, and to little surprise, it’s Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The annual roundup of the state’s biggest fools and faux pas also featured a couple of San Antonio luminaries as honorable mentions, those being Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales.
Paxton was included for a turbulent year during which the already scandal-plagued AG racked up even more political baggage, including his highly publicized divorce, which his wife is seeking on “biblical grounds.” We later found out from allegations in a British press report that he might have gotten to know a married Christian influencer in the Biblical sense.
“Attorney General Ken Paxton had a rough year and a glorious one,” Texas Monthly wrote. “He appears to have a good chance to win the 2026 Republican primary for U.S. Senate while losing his marriage to state Senator Angela Paxton. All the while his office continues doing the state’s work, gloriously.”
Naturally, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was also mentioned for “threatening his constituents with a good time” by throwing weed snacks at them during his Reefer Madness rampage. And Texas Gov. Greg Abbott got guff for his “word choice of losers” during the response to the devastating Kerrville floods.
Congressman Gonzales, whose congressional district includes part of San Antonio, was also listed among the contenders for Bum Steer of the Year for an alleged affair with a staffer who died after setting herself on fire. Paxton makes another appearance in this story, as just last week he blocked the release of records relating to her death.
San Antonio Mayor Jones was included for taking her phone out during a mayoral debate in the spring, violating the rules. But that hardly seems like an offense worthy of inclusion in the Bum Steer of the Year given the gravity of the allegations against many others on the list.
Rather, Texas Monthly could have looked to the high turnover in Jones’ office or her difficulty at times at building consensus on the dais.
And her opponent, Rolando Pablos, should be way more embarrassed that a conservative PAC associated with his former boss — Texas Governor Greg Abbott — spent more than $1.5 million on his behalf — only for him to lose.
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