The attorney general's defense of the claim on Dec. 11 followed his now-dismissed lawsuit against four battleground states.

According to the economist, it was statistically impossible for Biden to overcome President Donald Trump's leads in four battleground states on the night of the election based on a random population sample.

Paxton cited Cicchetti's analysis in his election lawsuit against the states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia. The suit alleged that the four defendant states used the pandemic to push through changes to mail-in voting rules – in violation of the Constitution's Electors Clause mandating only state legislatures decide on election rules.

Paxton commented on the criticism against Cicchetti, saying that these consist "solely of ad hominem attacks." The attorney general further remarked that the economist's analysis showing Biden underperformed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the U.S.'s 50 largest urban areas "reinforces the unusual statistical improbability of Biden's vote totals" in five urban areas in the defendant states.