Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday that he is moving to hold former Democratic Texas Rep. Robert “Beto” O’Rourke in contempt for alleged “unlawful fundraising activity.”
Paxton claimed in a press release announcing the move that O’Rourke is violating a judge’s temporary restraining order prohibiting him from fundraising for Democrats who left Texas amid the GOP’s redistricting push in the state. The attorney general claimed that O’Rourke, a two-time failed statewide candidate, “blatantly violated” the temporary restraining order “by continuing to fundraise and pay for the personal expenses of runaway Democrat legislators.”
Paxton on Friday sued the former lawmaker and his organization, Powered by People, alleging it ran a “misleading financial-influence scheme” to bribe Democrats who broke quorum in response to Texas Republicans’ efforts to redraw the state’s congressional maps. A Tarrant County District Judge granted Paxton’s request for a temporary restraining order on Friday, halting O’Rourke and Powered by People from fundraising for the Democrats just hours after Paxton’s office filed the petition, ABC13 reported.
“Beto told me ‘to come and take,’ so I did and beat him in court. Now, he still thinks he’s above the law, so I’m working to put him behind bars,” Paxton said in a statement. “Robert Francis [O’Rourke] flagrantly and knowingly violated the court order I secured that prevents him from raising funds and distributing any more Beto Bribes. He’s about to find out that running your mouth and ignoring the rule of law has consequences in Texas. It’s time to lock him up.”
“I just defeated Beto O’Rourke in court. We secured a major victory stopping runaway Democrats from taking ‘Beto Bribes’ and preventing deceptive fundraising,” Paxton wrote in a statement posted to X on Friday.
O’Rourke served in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019, representing Texas’ 16th congressional district, which is based in El Paso. He notably was the Democratic nominee for Texas Senate in 2018 and Texas Governor in 2022, losing to Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, respectively. O’Rourke also unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 — and during his campaign made headlines for his pro-gun control stance.
Powered by People did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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