Collin County is frontline for emotional Texas House primary elections

We will soon know if there will be any political fallout from the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton.

After years of friendship, all five Republican members from his home county supported impeaching him. They now face challengers he helped recruit to enact retribution on his former friends in the March 5 primary election.

Early voting started Tuesday.

Late last spring, the Texas House overwhelmingly voted to impeach and suspend Paxton on bribery and abuse of power allegations. The Texas Senate voted to acquit him, but the FBI continues to investigate allegations made by his top staff, who reported him to the FBI. Their civil lawsuit against his office continues.

Eight months later, hundreds of campaign signs stand outside early voting locations in Paxton's home Collin County. Over the Fall, Paxton and leaders of the Collin County Republican Party recruited challengers to take on incumbent Representatives Frederick Frazier (R- McKinney), Jeff Leach (R-Plano), Matt Shaheen (R-Plano), Justin Holland (R-Rockwall), and Candy Noble (R-Lucas).

Many of them have known Paxton for years. He was responsible for recruiting some of them to enter politics in the first place. Leach gave an emotional speech during the impeachment trial, calling his former roommate and "brother in Christ" a close friend who lost his way.

A request for comment from Paxton has not yet been returned for this story.

Paxton endorsed Daren Meis against Leach. Meis said he would have voted against impeachment and believes Leach hasn't been loyal enough to the Republican Party platform.

Wayne Richard told NBC 5 on Lone Star Politics that Collin County GOP leaders recruited him to run against Rep. Matt Shaheen. That race has recently ramped up.

“My opponent has known me for 14 years now. He’s been to my home. We’ve broken bread together with our wives. We actually attend the same church," said Richard, upset that Shaheen had tied him to a group that met with a well-known White supremacist in campaign material.

“I guess his consultants have determined that they need to attack me," said Richard.

Shaheen argues the incumbents have delivered on longstanding conservative causes such as record money for border security and banning nearly all abortions in the state. He defended his vote by siding with the Paxton whistleblowers in impeachment.

“At the end of the day, do you believe Ken Paxton who’s been unfaithful to his wife and had a mistress down in Austin (a reference to a key witness to the allegations against Paxton) or do you believe eight career individuals, professionals," said Shaheen.

“It’s not like there are any RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) in the bunch. It’s not like there are any people that deviate significantly from conservative values. It’s much more about personalities," said Matthew Wilson, SMU political science professor.

Wilson said the races in Collin County will show who holds sway over a tight-knit, largely Christian conservative group in one of the largest Republican counties in the country.

“It will be a real test of Ken Paxton’s influence and power in his original home base to see how many, if any, of these challengers end up unseating the incumbents," said Wilson.

Paxton has also endorsed Abraham George in his quest to unseat Noble, Chuck Branch, and Teresa Richardson in their race to beat Frazier and Katrina Pierson over Holland.

Earlier this month, at a rally in Wylie, Paxton told the Dallas Morning News the incumbents were led astray by Speaker of the House Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) and a powerful group that opposed Paxton in his election, Texans for Lawsuit Reform.

“We’re going to win them,” Paxton told The News about the five Collin County seats.

“I live in Collin County, and my job is to make sure that the best people get elected here," said Paxton.

Paxton's endorsements in Collin County will run up against endorsements of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. The governor has more campaign donations, a better voter turnout operation, and, according to recent polls, is better known and better liked.

The governor has endorsed Shaheen, Leach, Noble, and Frazier but not Holland because of a vote against one of the governor's priorities of allowing families to use public school dollars on private and home schools.

"People who have worked for the Republican party and for Republican candidates all their lives are now torn between people that they know, people that they have worked with in previous campaigns, people that are their friends," said Wilson.

Many of them - the Shaheens, the Paxtons, the Nobles, the Leachs, and the Richards- have even attended the same church - the large, popular, and influential Prestonwood Baptist Church.

“As Christians, we not only have a heavenly citizenship, but we also have a citizenship on earth. We have a heavenly allegiance to Christ and also a national allegiance to Christ, for we’re told that while we’re on Earth we are to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ," Executive Pastor Mike Buster wrote NBC 5, "At Prestonwood, we take our citizenship on Earth seriously. We have always encouraged our members to do their civic duty by getting involved and voting their values.”