/news/ — Ken Paxton’s Impeachment Defense Lawyer Endorses James Talarico

>A Texas lawyer who helped lead Republican Ken Paxton’s defense during a 2023 impeachment trial said Paxton “has lost sight of his core mission.”

https://www.notus.org/2026-election/ken-paxton-lawyer-james-talarico-endorsement

>A Texas lawyer who helped lead Republican Ken Paxton’s defense during his 2023 impeachment trial is endorsing Democrat James Talarico in the state’s critical Senate race this November.

>Dan Cogdell, a Houston-based defense lawyer who represented the Texas attorney general in both the impeachment trial and a long-running securities fraud case, told NOTUS in a statement that his former client “has lost sight of his core mission, which is to represent the people of Texas.”

>“And unlike Ken, I believe to my core that James Talarico believes in unity over division and that he knows how to assemble not only Democrats, but Independents and Republicans, and we need that right now,” Cogdell said.

>Cogdell has donated a total of $6,500 to Paxton’s campaign last year and then gave $1,000 to Talarico’s campaign in March, according to campaign finance reports. His endorsement of Talarico comes just after the third anniversary of Paxton’s impeachment by the Texas House of Representatives over allegations including bribery.

>The Paxton campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

>Despite representing one of President Donald Trump’s most prominent political allies, Cogdell has broken with his party and criticized the president publicly in recent years. The longtime Paxton confidant last year called Trump the “greatest threat to Democracy our country’s ever seen.” Cogdell’s comments were used in a now-deleted attack ad against Paxton released by the National Republican Senatorial Committee in September. The ad called Cogdell “a liberal Trump-hating trial lawyer.”