A North Texas lawmaker who lost his re-election bid in a 2024 primary runoff is suing the creator of an opposition campaign website for defamation.
Freshman State Rep. Frederick Frazier (R–McKinney) filed the defamation lawsuit against Paul Chabot, a past primary rival who created the website FireFrazier.com.
Frazier’s lawsuit alleges that Chabot’s website and social media posts made “false claims about Mr. Frazier to rally and mobilize voters against Mr. Frazier.”
The website documents behavior by Frazier—a former McKinney City Council member who was a Dallas police officer at the time—including crimes involving Chabot’s campaign signs that Frazier eventually admitted he committed.
Frazier’s lawsuit calls the site part of an “obsessive vendetta” meant to “tarnish his image in the eyes of the electorate.”
Frazier lost his May 28 primary runoff to challenger Keresa Richardson by a 2-1 margin, earning only 32 percent of the vote.
His lawsuit blames Chabot’s statements for the loss, claiming they “impaired Mr. Frazier’s campaign efforts, potentially causing loss of employment, a loss of business, and a loss of clients.”
“It’s an abusive lawsuit that should be immediately thrown out,” Chabot’s attorney Tony McDonald told Texas Scorecard.
Chabot and Frazier faced off in the 2022 Republican primary for Texas House District 61. Frazier beat Chabot in a runoff for the open seat.
During that campaign, Frazier was accused of vandalizing Chabot’s campaign signs. Frazier denied the allegations but was eventually charged with criminal mischief, a misdemeanor, and two felony counts of impersonating a code compliance officer relating to the sign shenanigans.
Following the felony indictments in June 2022, Frazier was placed on administrative leave by the Dallas Police Department, which opened an Internal Affairs investigation into his alleged crimes.
Frazier then won the November 2022 General Election.
Once in office, Frazier requested a legislative continuance, a perk available to Texas lawmakers to delay court proceedings.
After the regular session ended, Frazier announced his re-election bid—despite the pending indictments and backlash over his legislative record, which included a vote to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton.
In December 2023, Frazier pleaded guilty to criminal mischief.
Frazier also pleaded no contest to two reduced charges of attempting to impersonate a public servant, a misdemeanor.
The court found that “the evidence and the Defendant’s plea substantiates the Defendant’s guilt of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt as charged in the indictment.”
As part of his plea deal, Frazier received deferred adjudication, meaning the charges would be removed from his criminal record after a one-year probationary period. In April, Frazier was granted early release from his probation, but he claimed the charges were “dismissed.”
After Frazier entered his criminal pleas, he retired from the Dallas Police Department while still under investigation. A separation document from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement dated December 13, 2023, shows Frazier was “dishonorably discharged” on December 9.
According to Frazier’s lawsuit, Chabot “falsely” implicated Frazier in criminal conduct, accused Frazier of accepting plea deals and using his legislative position to delay justice, and stated Frazier was dishonorably discharged from his police job.
The lawsuit states that Frazier received updated documentation from TCOLE “on May 8, 2024, expressly notating Mr. Frazier’s general discharge from DPD.”
The defamation lawsuit also calls Chabot’s allegation of sign stealing “a serious accusation of unlawful behavior that would be unbefitting of a police officer or legislator” and claims the charge was “entirely unsubstantiated.”
In addition to alleging Chabot cost him his job, Frazier claims the opposition campaign caused “impairment of reputation and standing in the community; personal humiliation; and mental anguish and suffering.”
Frazier is seeking up to $1 million in actual and compensatory damages.
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