Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Who Has Fought Vaccine Mandates, Tests Positive For COVID-19

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has tested positive for COVID-19, his office said Wednesday.

The communications staff at the attorney general’s office told The Texas Tribune in an unsigned statement that Paxton had tested positive.

“He remains working diligently for the people of Texas from home,” the statement said.

The attorney general’s office did not immediately say whether Paxton was vaccinated. It did not release further information on when Paxton tested positive or how he may have contracted it. Paxton is married to state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney. The attorney general’s office gave no information on her condition.

Paxton, a second-term Republican, has challenged attempts by President Joe Biden to mandate vaccines for health care employees at facilities that receive funding from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and troops serving in the Texas National Guard. He has also fought attempts by the Biden administration to require staff and volunteers at Head Start programs to be vaccinated and for all parents, staff, volunteers and children over the age of 2 to wear a mask while at schools.

Paxton is the latest state official to be diagnosed with COVID-19 as the omicron variant spreads through Texas. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick tested positive for COVID-19 the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Gov. Greg Abbott tested positive in August.

Also on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, D-Houston, announced on Twitter that she’d developed a breakthrough case of COVID-19.

“I have been testing regularly, and am fully vaccinated and boosted,” she said. “I’m grateful to only have mild symptoms and am quarantining and following CDC guidance.”

Patrick Svitek contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared on the Texas Tribune. To read this article in its original format, click here.