Ken Paxton is fighting to kill Obamacare. Can a Democrat win on a campaign to stop him?

By Emma Platoff, Texas Tribune


It’s ignited sleepy attorney general races in Florida, Wisconsin and Arizona. It has pitted two Democratic senators against their own state’s top lawyers. In West Virginia, Democrat U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin shot it down — literally — in a re-election campaign video.

Can a Texas-led lawsuit to kill Obamacare boost Democrats even in deep-red Texas?

Justin Nelson sure hopes so. The well-credentialed Austin lawyer is challenging the architect of that case, incumbent Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in this fall’s general election, betting that the controversial case can help him overcome the partisan disadvantage that’s proved insurmountable for statewide Democratic candidates for the past two decades.

In February, Paxton — who was indicted in 2015 for securities fraud and has not yet gone to trial — launched a 20-state challenge to the landmark health care law, arguing that after Congress gutted the individual mandate, the rest of the law is unconstitutional and must fall. Critics have cast doubt on the case, from its motivations — many argue it’s rooted partisan politics, not genuine constitutional concerns — to its legal arguments.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2018/09/25/obamacare-texas-ken-paxton-attorney-general-justin-nelson-pre-existing/