Multiple senators who spoke with The Texas Tribune described deliberations that began in good faith, but turned toward an acquittal consensus as political calculation set in among Republicans. In the end, it appeared that the Senate may have been close to the threshold for acquittal, but Republicans did not want to take a tough vote if they could not get there.

“I feel there were six senators who were ready to be the 21st vote,” said Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas. “But they didn’t want to be the 20th vote.”

Ultimately, only two Republicans — Sens. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville and Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills — voted with Democrats to convict Paxton. But at least five more GOP senators appeared to be in play during deliberations, according to four people familiar with the talks. There was never any poll taken of how senators would vote, so they were left to gauge their colleagues’ thinking through personal observations and discussions in private.....

While opinions vary on what exactly may have ultimately swayed the swing votes, few disagree that it was an inherently political process from the start. The outcome, they reason, reflected that.

“My cynical lens says Republicans were gonna go in there and make a political decision,” Gutierrez said. “Hell, I thought that from Day 1. I was proven right.”