Three years can be a long time in Texas politics.
Republicans who once stood on opposite sides of one of the party’s most bitter battles are now sharing stages, exchanging embraces, and urging voters to unite behind Attorney General Ken Paxton in November.
The display has unfolded during Paxton’s campaign tour this week, where several lawmakers with a history of conflict with the Republican senate nominee have appeared alongside him and encouraged voters to put past disagreements aside.
The most prominent example came in Allen, where State Rep. Jeff Leach introduced Paxton before a packed crowd and embraced him as he took the stage.
Leach and Paxton began their political careers as allies in Collin County, but their relationship deteriorated over time. Each has previously called for the other’s resignation, and Leach served as one of the House managers in Paxton’s 2023 impeachment trial.
Leach also fervently supported incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn against Paxton during the Republican primary earlier this year.
But with the primary now over, Leach said Republicans cannot allow previous disputes to divide the party in November.
“James Talarico is not your granddaddy’s blue-dog Democrat—he is a socialist through and through—in the mold of Mayor Mamdani and Bernie Sanders,” Leach told Texas Scorecard. “He wants to weaken our border security, undermine law enforcement, expand government, raise taxes, attack parental rights, erode religious liberty, and impose a radical agenda that is completely out of step with the values of Texas families.”
“Republicans cannot allow that to happen. We cannot sit on the sidelines. We cannot allow past disagreements to become excuses for division in November. Ken Paxton is a rock-solid conservative warrior and every single Republican in Texas must unite and do whatever we can to resoundingly elect him and every single Republican up and down the ballot in November.”
The same message was on display Wednesday in Houston, where State Reps. Briscoe Cain and Cody Vasut joined Paxton at another campaign event.
Like Leach, Cain and Vasut both served as House impeachment managers. Cain endorsed Paxton during the Republican primary, however, and both lawmakers have now joined the broader effort to rally Republicans around the party’s nominee.
The reconciliation extends beyond the three former impeachment managers.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who had supported Paxton’s impeachment in 2023 , has also now become a strong ally of the campaign. Burrows has appeared alongside Paxton publicly. Behind the scenes, he has worked to encourage House members to endorse and support the nominee.
At a recent rally hosted by State Rep. Shelley Luther in Sherman, Burrows joined statewide Republican candidates in calling for party unity.
“We must stand as one party fiercely dedicated to a singular mission—winning in November,” Burrows told attendees.
The Sherman gathering offered another example of former adversaries setting old disputes aside. Luther rose to prominence after being jailed for defying Gov. Greg Abbott’s COVID-era shutdown orders, but welcomed the governor to her district six years later for a rally attended by more than 1,000 people.
Yet another example comes in the form of Don Huffines. Four years ago, Huffines ran a spirited primary campaign against Abbott. Now, the two have what Huffines has called a “great working relationship,” with Abbott recently appointing Huffines to serve as comptroller.
The Republican unity campaign comes as party leaders warn that Democrats are preparing to spend heavily in Texas and that Republican voters cannot take the state’s political alignment for granted.
Paxton is facing Democrat State Rep. James Talarico, who has sought to present himself as a viable statewide candidate despite a record Republicans describe as far outside the Texas mainstream.
While Republicans have increasingly closed ranks, divisions remain among Democrats.
U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who lost the Democrat primary to Talarico, has declined to endorse him and described the contest as a “racist race.”
Republicans, meanwhile, are preparing for the national party’s unprecedented midterm convention in Dallas next month, where the unity message is expected to remain central heading into the final stretch of the campaign.
Three years after Texas Republicans were consumed by internal conflict, many of the figures once at the center of those disputes are now standing together—with a shared focus on November.
