AUSTIN, Texas — Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted on all 16 articles of impeachment after a two-week trial in Austin. One by one, Texas senators voted on each article with 21 "yea" votes needed to convict.
Only two Republican senators voted "yea" on any of the articles. Robert Nichols who represents part of East Texas, including Montgomery County and Sen. Kelly Hancock who represents part of North Texas voted in favor of 13 articles. The rest of the Republicans voted nay on every article.
Hancock said his votes were not taken lightly.
“It was my constitutional obligation to seek the truth based on the facts made available through witness testimony and all documents admitted into evidence, then vote accordingly,” Hancock said in a statement. “My vote on each article reflects that responsibility.”
Nichols did not respond to requests for comment.
The Democrats also voted along party lines on several articles but some voted to acquit on a couple of them.
First, here are the articles that senators voted on Saturday and what the vote count was.
- Article 1
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 2
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 3
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 4
- 2 yeas
- 28 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 5
- 13 yeas
- 17 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 6
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 7
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 8
- 8 yeas
- 22 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 9
- 12 yeas
- 18 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 10
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 15
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 16
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 17
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 18
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 19
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result - Acquitted
- Article 20
- 14 yeas
- 16 nays
- Result – Acquitted
Below is an interactive on how each senator voted, along with their party.
Before the trial started, six Republican senators voted to dismiss all articles of impeachment. Lois Kolkhorst, Paul Bettencourt, Brandon Creighton, Tan Parker, Bob Hall and Donna Campbell were the conservative minority who voted that the Senate lacked the evidence to proceed.