As Ken Paxton ducks and Greg Abbott blusters, will voters miss Texas’ biggest election? | Opinion

We are one month out from a meltdown of a 2024 Texas political primary, like WrestleMania comes to the ballot box:

▪ Bitter races in the open Republican primary match the two strongest factions in Texas politics: business Republicans vs. religious West Texas oilfield billionaires.

▪ The attorney general is scrambling to avoid testifying under oath, either in his rapidly mounting court cases or in the Texas Senate on whether he should once again face removal from office.

▪ While he’s trying to duck testifying, he’s out campaigning for primary candidates who might presumably help him avoid ever testifying.

▪ The governor is stoking Civil War nostalgia by talking openly about how Texas has the right to wage war along with other states if the federal government doesn’t detain border-crossers.

▪ Yes. He really did. And that’s only fourth on the list.

Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton were again at the center of a week of turmoil — a month before an open primary in which neither is on the ballot.

The bottom line on Paxton: He wants to play the Donald Trump political victim role, but he wants to play it with our money.

Unlike Trump, Paxton wants taxpayers to pay millions of dollars in damages over his own actions in office. That’s to settle the firings of staffers who filed complaints alleging lawlessness.

As long as Paxton wants the taxpayers to cover the cost of his work as AG, the House and Senate can continue to talk about removing him, or at least subpoenaing him to explain.

Muenster Republican state Sen. Drew Springer brought up reopening impeachment Thursday in a letter to the Senate, and he said more Friday in a conversation with radio showman Mark Davis on KSKY/660 AM.

Springer was among Republican senators who voted to keep Paxton after the September removal trial. But he later told the Gainesville Daily Register that the vote behind closed doors was “really close” and that half the Republicans really wanted to remove Paxton.

On Davis’ show, Springer cited Paxton’s offer to stop fighting the lawsuit. He also noted that Paxton hasn’t openly disclosed how he makes his money, as required of elected officials.

Springer dismissed Paxton’s campaign endorsements, citing evidence from his removal trial: “I just don’t think that the voters respect somebody that used a fake Uber account to cheat on his wife.”

Now, the bottom line on Abbott: It’s an election year.

President Joe Biden is not going to challenge Texas anywhere but in a courtroom until, say, Nov. 6.

There’s an outside chance one of the Democrats running in that party’s primary for U.S. Senate might unseat Sen. Ted Cruz. As long as that’s still a Democratic dream, Biden won’t give Cruz any talking points.

And let’s talk about that primary election.

It was already going to have a small turnout, and it’s shrinking by the day.

Trump has all but sewn up that party’s nomination, taking all the suspense out of the Republican primary above a few U.S. and Texas House districts and state court seats.

For 22 years, Republican Party primaries have decided everything about how Texas is run.

But only about 1 in 8 eligible Texans votes in the primary.

This year, with Trump coasting and some independent or moderate voters drifting over to the Democratic Party primary to choose Colin Allred or Roland Gutierrez in the Senate race, that 12% number might fall back as low as 5%-6%.

If the Republican primary turnout is that low, then 1 in 20 Texans will choose the Texas House.

These are the leaders who will make the decisions on private-school vouchers, energy, abortion and the border.

Watch them. Not the show.

Do you have an opinion on this topic? Tell us!

We love to hear from Texans with opinions on the news — and to publish those views in the Opinion section.

• Letters should be no more than 150 words.

• Writers should submit letters only once every 30 days.

• Include your name, address (including city of residence), phone number and email address, so we can contact you if we have questions.

You can submit a letter to the editor two ways:

• Email letters@star-telegram.com (preferred).

• Fill out this online form.

Please note: Letters will be edited for style and clarity. Publication is not guaranteed. The best letters are focused on one topic.