Ken Paxton launched his 3-stop northeast Texas tour at the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce.  Hosted by State Representative Bryan Hughes, the conservative candidate for Attorney General met with prominent local leaders leaders to discuss his campaign and vision for Texas.  Greg Bischof of the Texarkana Gazette published an article about the event, which can be found in part below:

By: Greg Bischof – Texarkana Gazette

Texas economic and political issues are the two main reasons state Sen. Ken Paxton, R-McKinney, said he is running for Texas attorney general in the upcoming March primary election.

Paxton, 50, attributed his desire to run to helping protect the state against federal assault on state liberties and rights.

“I decided to run for the AG’s office largely to serve our state, but there are also two main federal issues that concern me too,” Paxton said to a group of about 30 to 40 residents who stopped by the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce to meet him Tuesday morning. “We are under attack, both economically and politically, by federal government in order to turn us into a blue state.”

Paxton then cited some Democratic (blue states) such as California, Illinois and Michigan as experiencing job losses and general economic downturn because of federal overregulation—in contrast to Texas.

“These blue states all have lost jobs, but in our state, we have created one-third of all the jobs we have now with only 8 percent of population creating them,” Paxton said.

As for the political perspective, Paxton said the state’s voter identification requirement, which he co-sponsored, is a great defense of the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment. He attributed federal redistricting efforts, at least on statewide levels, as an attempt to limit the GOP of rightful representation at the federal level.

“I want you to use your influence in getting people out to vote in March,” he said. “

Paxton started his campaign for AG in earnest shortly after completing the Aug. 6 legislative session.

“Starting in October, I began to get a good feel for what voters are looking for in this race,” he said. “We had several debates at campaign stops throughout the state and in every straw poll taken after the debates we wound up winning all of them.”

Paxton added during the last regular legislative session he fought against expansion offered through the Affordable Care Act.

“Fighting Obamacare is all about fighting for free medical choice,” he said.

To read the full article, click here.

This piece originally ran in the Texarkana Gazette on December 11, 2013.