Michelle Smith, a senior advisor in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, endorsed an antisemitic claim about a GOP operative in the state in a post on X last year.

Smith, who has served as a senior advisor to Paxton since December 2020 and is not employed by Paxton’s Senate campaign, wrote in a June 2025 post on X that she agreed with another user’s antisemitic claim about Chad Wilbanks, a veteran Texas Republican operative. 

The user, who goes by the name Happy American on their profile, wrote on the platform at the time, “If Chad were to squat ‘n cough, shekels would prolly [sic] fly out,” in response to a post criticizing Wilbanks as “one of the most miserable, post menopausal women in Texas.”

“That’s a true statement,” Smith replied.

Hunter Bonner, chairman of the Marion County Republican Party, criticized Smith over her comment in a post on X where he called on “all Republicans in this state, especially party officers, to denounce this, and to demand that Michelle Smith should resign or be fired.”

“We now know that his senior advisor Michelle Smith is an antisemite with this remark,” Bonner wrote. “Antisemitism should not be tolerated from people trying to use our Republican brand.”

In response to Bonner’s antisemitism accusation, Smith published a detailed post rejecting the claim in which she stated that her “grandfather’s photograph hangs at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. He served under [WWII Gen. George] Patton and played a role in the liberation.”

“Just because I proudly support Israel doesn’t mean I put Israel before America,” Smith wrote. “My commitment to America first means we need to avoid unnecessary wars. Israel is a steadfast ally. For anyone to deem me antisemitic is utterly insanity; they clearly don’t know me. My grandfather was a guard for the war criminals at Nuremberg, prominently featured in every photograph from that time.”

The post was taken down after Jewish Insider reached out to Paxton’s campaign for comment last Wednesday. 

In response, a Paxton campaign spokesperson provided JI with a statement touting the Texas attorney general’s record of support for Israel and of combating antisemitism, while not addressing Smith’s post directly.

“Ken Paxton has always stood with Israel, and he always will,” the spokesperson said. “As Attorney General, he defended Texas’s law barring taxpayer dollars from going to companies that boycott Israel and won at the Fifth Circuit. He backed other states fighting the anti-Israel BDS movement in court. After October 7, he joined attorneys general nationwide pressing the DOJ and FBI to crack down on antisemitic terrorism. When Plano parents reported anti-Israel indoctrination in their kids’ classrooms, he opened an investigation.”

“Ken Paxton believes antisemitism has no place in the Great State of Texas and is proud to stand with the Jewish people and with Israel,” it continued. “That will never change.”

Smith is a prolific user of X who has posted more than 44,000 tweets since joining the platform in 2009. She generated attention on Wednesday for her social media usage after the Huffington Post reported on her posts, sent hours before President Donald Trump arrived in Texas for a rally in support of Paxton, describing the state of the U.S. economy as “horrible.”

Smith has expressed support for Israel in some of her recent social media posts, including a December 2023 post where she wrote that, “you can’t be anti-Semitic and support Israel … not possible. Show me how I’m wrong.”

Smith has also defended Paxton’s support for Israel in response to users who replied to her posts with criticisms of his pro-Israel record, arguing on numerous occasions that one could believe the Jewish state is an important U.S. ally while embracing cuts to military aid as part of an America First agenda.

“Paxton will always be America first,” Smith wrote in May. “You can be America first and also because of your faith love the country of Israel. That doesn’t mean you give Israel money.”

“Are you asking if he will give our money to another country? I don’t think so,” she wrote in a later reply to the same user. “Are you asking him to abandon his belief in Jesus? That will never happen. Ken is a Christian.”

Smith has worked in Texas politics since 2009 and has worked for Paxton and his ex-wife, GOP state Sen. Angela Paxton, according to her LinkedIn profile. She served as political director for Paxton’s first campaign for attorney general in 2014 and was his campaign manager for his 2018 bid for a second term, during which she concurrently led Angela Paxton’s state Senate campaign. Smith has worked for Paxton in the attorney general’s office in all three terms. 

Prior to joining Paxton, Smith served as Texas state director for Concerned Women for America, and was the Texas state coalitions director for Rick Santorum’s 2012 presidential campaign.