Texas State Sen. Angela Paxton (R) has filed for divorce from her husband, Christian Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), citing “recent discoveries” and “biblical grounds” for their separation.

“Today, after 38 years of marriage, I filed for divorce on biblical grounds,” Angela Paxton wrote via X on Thursday. “I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation. But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.”

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Ken Paxton told his staff about an extramarital affair in September 2018 while holding hands with his wife, The Texas Tribune reported. But while he recommitted to their marriage during that confession, he continued to cheat on her, the publication reported, even going through great lengths to hide affairs from her: using burner phones, secret email addresses, and secret rideshare accounts to meet with his mistress.

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David Brockman, a scholar at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Religion and Public Policy, said Paxton had good reasons to try to hide his affair.

“Evidence of an extramarital affair would strike his supporters as hypocritical,” Brockman said. “He’s promoted himself as a conservative Christian, a defender of biblical values and a guardian of conservative Christian sexual morality. So there’s quite a bit of impetus to keep it secret.”

Jared Woodfill, a longtime leader of anti-LGBTQ+ movements in Texas said, “Christian conservatives have supported Paxton from day one, and they’ve done that because he’s consistently stood for our principles, our values and our beliefs.”

Konni Burton, a conservative former Texas state senator, said of Paxton, “It is not my place to say who is Christian or not. But my personal opinion is, if a politician professes Christian values, yet is willing to break those values when it comes to their own spouse, they surely will break a promise to me, as a constituent.”

In his own statement, Paxton wrote of his divorce, stating, “After facing the pressures of countless political attacks and public scrutiny, Angela and I have decided to start a new chapter in our lives. I could not be any more proud or grateful for the incredible family that God has blessed us with, and I remain committed to supporting our amazing children and grandchildren. I ask for your prayers and privacy at this time.”

Paxton was previously impeached by the Texas House in 2023 for 16 counts of bribery but was later acquitted by the Texas Senate. The FBI also investigated him for years for securities fraud, but the Department of Justice eventually dropped its investigation. He also settled a state securities fraud case against him, paying $300,000 and participating in community service to avoid legal charges.

During his tenure as state attorney general, Paxton has said consensual encounters between consenting same-sex adults should be illegal and that state workers can deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. He has argued that doctors should be allowed to deny care to transgender patients and that it should be legal to discriminate against trans people at work, and he has tried to force a school to cancel its Pride week. He also tried to prosecute gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth as a form of “child abuse” (something that hindered the state’s ability to investigate actual child abuse).

Paxton has sued for the right to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students, sued a group that highlighted the rise in hate speech on Elon Musk’s social media platform X, and recently sued the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) to force it to inspect every athlete’s gender before allowing them to play. He has also been trying to compile a list of trans Texans and to obtain trans people’s medical records from other states.

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