Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton spent New Year's Eve 2024 in Dubai with two men wanted by US authorities and a woman who is not his wife, a bad look as he fights for the Republican Senate nomination.

• Newly published footage shows Paxton at the party alongside Samir Suri and Anosh Ahmed, both then fugitives facing federal fraud charges.
• Ahmed was indicted over an alleged $15 million theft from a Chicago hospital and later tied to a much bigger COVID testing fraud case; he has pleaded not guilty and donated close to $200,000 to Paxton.
• Paxton's wife has filed for divorce, and his Senate rival is using the party to argue Paxton is the real scandal in the race.
• Separate reporting found Paxton has taken nearly 1,000 trips with a taxpayer-funded security detail since 2015, costing Texas $3.3 million, including resort stays during his impeachment probe.
• Questions also hang over an empty Hawaii lot he bought in 2021 that is now worth triple what he paid.

Outlook: The corruption file keeps growing, but Trump's backing has shielded Paxton before, and the race will test whether Texas Republicans care this time.