Branch Picks Up Endorsement of Two Congressmen

Two Republican congressmen — Pete Olson of Sugar Land and Bill Flores of Waco — announced on Monday their endorsement of Dan Branch for attorney general.

According to the Branch campaign, they are the second and third members of Texas' GOP House delegation to back Branch, joining Ted Poe of Humble. In his statement of support, Olson referred specifically to revelations uncovered by The Texas Tribune that Ken Paxton, Branch's opponent in the May 27 primary runoff election, broke the law when he solicited clients for an investment adviser without registering with the state securities board. According to a disciplinary order made public Friday, the board reprimanded Paxton and fined him $1,000.

"Now that Sen. Ken Paxton has admitted to repeatedly breaking laws designed to protect Texans from being cheated by unscrupulous investment companies, it is clear we cannot have him as a nominee to be our state’s top law enforcement officer," Olson said in his statement. "Our next attorney general must be beyond reproach in order to truly bring the fight to the Obama Administration and enforce the laws of our state."

After the reprimand, Paxton spokesman Anthony Holm said last week that the campaign "took immediate action and proactively communicated the Tribune's questions to the state board."

"We asked the board to treat us like every other citizen of the state and that they take all necessary time to review our filings," Holm said at the time. "Due to an administrative oversight, we have paid an administrative fine of $1,000. We are pleased this matter has been resolved and a speedy resolution has been reached."