2026-09-28T17:55:17.996Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）
即将与得克萨斯州联邦参议员候选人肯·帕克斯顿离婚的安吉拉·帕克斯顿周一发布了一段视频，内容是她近期发表的讲话，呼吁共和党女性在今年秋季支持得克萨斯州的共和党候选人，即便她们对这些候选人有所保留。
在这场题为“房间里的大象”的演讲中，得克萨斯州州参议员安吉拉·帕克斯顿并未提及她的丈夫，或是他与民主党人詹姆斯·塔拉里科竞争激烈的参议员竞选。但她多次提到，得克萨斯州的共和党人对如何在11月的选举中投票感到纠结，尤其是考虑到肯·帕克斯顿长期以来存在的法律和道德争议。
安吉拉·帕克斯顿于去年以“宗教教义依据”为由向丈夫提出离婚，指控他有通奸行为。
“现实情况是，虽然我们是代表价值观的政党，但我们的候选人名单存在一些漏洞，一些实实在在的漏洞，”安吉拉·帕克斯顿在演讲中说道。“坦白跟大家说，我认为共和党女性将决定这次选举的结果，因为其中一些漏洞尤其让坚守我们价值观的女性感到疏离。”
但她暗示，现已结束的初选——肯·帕克斯顿在其中凭借特朗普的支持大幅击败参议员约翰·康林——是解决这些问题的时机，而现在共和党人需要将“席位”置于候选人个人之上。
“因为当我们掌控这个席位时，我们对席位本身和未来拥有更多控制权——哪怕我们对某位候选人感到愤怒，这个席位仍在我们的阵营里，”她说。“但如果我们把它输给了对手，我们想要修正某位候选人相关问题的那些细微考量，和我们夺回席位所要付出的代价相比，根本不值一提，对吧？”
得克萨斯州论坛报报道了一名参会者在社交媒体上发布的约两分钟片段后，安吉拉·帕克斯顿发布了她9月18日演讲的完整视频https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFsS4as3kRM&t=11s。这场演讲是在得克萨斯州共和党妇女联合会的季度董事会会议上发表的。
共和党人对这场参议员竞选倍感焦虑，来自奥斯汀的州议员塔拉里科在最近的多数民调中仍领先肯·帕克斯顿，而这场竞选对维持共和党微弱的多数席位至关重要。顶级共和党超级政治行动委员会“参议院领导基金”已斥资超1亿美元为帕克斯顿投放广告，同时美国总统唐纳德·特朗普计划多次到访该州为他造势。
一些得克萨斯州共和党人长期以来一直担心肯·帕克斯顿作为候选人的胜算，原因是他的一系列丑闻记录，包括多项通奸指控。曾被帕克斯顿在初选中击败的康林已拒绝为这位竞争对手助选。
资深共和党战略家卡尔·罗夫周六被问及是否会为帕克斯顿投票时并未作答，而是列举了他的一系列丑闻，包括2023年得克萨斯州参议院弹劾审判中指控他使用秘密优步账号与情妇见面。
“这编都编不出来吧？我是说，真的假的？”罗夫在奥斯汀的得克萨斯州论坛报节上说道。
由共和党主导的州参议院在特朗普的压力下宣判帕克斯顿无罪。2018年当选州参议员的安吉拉·帕克斯顿未被允许在此次审判中投票，此次审判涉及帕克斯顿担任州检察长期间滥用职权的多项更广泛指控。他的律师在审判期间全面否认存在不当行为，称这是出于政治动机的指控。
安吉拉·帕克斯顿2025年7月提出的离婚申请重新引发了人们对肯·帕克斯顿个人生活的猜测。他对离婚申请进行了笼统否认，但在竞选活动中大多回避谈及通奸相关指控。
帕克斯顿夫妇的离婚审判原定于6月举行，但已被取消。肯·帕克斯顿的律师当时表示，双方已接近达成“最终协议”。
在肯·帕克斯顿与康林的初选中，安吉拉·帕克斯顿并未背书，尽管她在其他全州范围的竞选中支持了多位候选人。
虽然安吉拉·帕克斯顿在近期的演讲中没有提及她分居的丈夫，但她回应了一些得克萨斯州共和党人对这场参议员竞选的看法，比如他们希望在11月的选票上空出这个选区的位置。她敦促他们不要这么做。
她还将这个决定描述为可能对得克萨斯州下一次选举产生影响的选择，届时她将面临连任竞选，同时选民也将选出新总统。
“我们不能对房间里的大象视若无睹，”安吉拉·帕克斯顿说道。“如果我们这么做，我们就会输掉选举，而两年后，我们面对的将不再是一场战役，而是一场战争。”
‘We cannot ignore the elephant in the room’: Ken Paxton’s estranged wife speaks to GOP women
2026-09-28T17:55:17.996Z / CNN
Angela Paxton, who is divorcing Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton, posted a video Monday of recent remarks urging Republican women to support GOP candidates in Texas this fall even if they have reservations about them.
In the speech, titled “The Elephant in the Room,” Angela Paxton, a Texas state senator, did not mention her husband or his hotly contested race against Democrat James Talarico. But she made multiple references to Texas Republicans feeling conflicted about how to vote in the November election, particularly amid Ken Paxton’s long history of legal and ethical controversies.
Angela Paxton filed for divorce last year from the state’s attorney general and cited “biblical grounds,” accusing him of adultery.
“The reality is, while we are the party of values, we have some vulnerabilities on our ballot, some real vulnerabilities,” Angela Paxton said in the speech. “And I’ll be honest with you, I think Republican women will decide this election, because some of those vulnerabilities, I think, have been particularly alienating to women that hold our values.”
But she suggested that the now-concluded primary — in which Paxton resoundingly defeated Sen. John Cornyn — was the time to litigate those issues and that Republicans now need to prioritize the “seat” over the candidate.
“Because we have more control over that seat and the future when we control the seat — when it’s still in the family, even if we’re mad at them,” she said. “But if we lose it to the other team, the nuances that we want to fix with maybe a certain candidate are nothing compared to what it’s going to take to get it back, right?”
Angela Paxton released the full videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFsS4as3kRM&t=11s of her September 18 speech after the Texas Tribune reported on a roughly two-minute clip that was posted on social media by an attendee. She delivered the remarks at a quarterly board meeting of the Texas Federation of Republican Women.
Republicans are sweating the Senate race as Talarico, a state representative from Austin, continues to lead Ken Paxton in most recent polls for a contest critical to maintaining the GOP’s narrow majority. A top Republican super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, is spending well over $100 million to advertise on Paxton’s behalf, while President Donald Trump is planning multiple trips to the state to boost him.
Some Texas Republicans have long been concerned about Ken Paxton’s viability as a candidate due to his record of scandals, including multiple allegations of infidelity. Cornyn, whom Paxton defeated in the primary with Trump’s support, has declined to campaign for his rival.
The longtime GOP strategist Karl Rove declined to say Saturday whether he was voting for Paxton and rattled off a list of his scandals, including an allegation at his Texas Senate impeachment trial in 2023 that he used a secret Uber account to see a mistress.
“Can you make this sh*t up? I mean, really?” Rove said, speaking at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
The Republican-led state Senate acquitted Paxton under pressure from Trump. Angela Paxton, elected to the chamber in 2018, was not allowed to vote in the trial, which dealt with broader accusations that Paxton abused his office as attorney general. His lawyers broadly denied wrongdoing through the trial and called it politically motivated.
Angela Paxton’s divorce filing in July 2025 reignited speculation about Ken Paxton’s personal life. He issued a general denial of her petition but has otherwise mostly avoided addressing allegations of infidelity on the campaign trail.
The Paxtons’ divorce trial was scheduled for June but was canceled. Ken Paxton’s lawyers said at the time they were nearing a “final agreement.”
Angela Paxton did not make an endorsement in the primary runoff between Ken Paxton and Cornyn, even as she backed candidates in other statewide contests.
While Angela Paxton did not bring up her estranged husband in her recent speech, she addressed a handful of things other Texas Republicans have said about the Senate contest, such as their desire to leave a race blank on the November ballot. She urged them not to do that.
She also cast the decision as one that could have implications for the next election in Texas, when she is up for reelection and when voters will be picking a new president.
“We cannot ignore the elephant in the room,” Angela Paxton said. “If we do, we will lose, and in two years, we’ll be fighting not a battle, but a war.”
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