Paul Edward Begala (born May 12, 1961) is an American political consultant and political commentator, best known as the former advisor to President Bill Clinton.

Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign, which carried 33 states and made Clinton the first Democrat to occupy the White House in 12 years. As counselor to the President in the Clinton White House, he coordinated policy, politics, and communications.

Begala gained national prominence as part of the political consulting team Carville and Begala, which he formed with fellow Clinton advisor James Carville. He was a co-host on the political debate program Equal Time on MSNBC from 1999 to 2000, and a co-host on the similar debate program Crossfire on CNN from 2002 to 2005. He now appears regularly on CNN as a Democratic pundit. He is a Scholar at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. He is also an instructor in the UVA Department of Politics, teaching a seminar on political communication.

Begala was born in New Jersey, to an Irish American mother, Margaret "Peggy" (née Cass), and a Hungarian American father, David Begala. He was raised in Missouri City, Texas, where his father was an oil-field equipment salesman. In 1979, Begala graduated from Dulles High School in Sugar Land, Texas.

He earned both his Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctor from the University of Texas at Austin, where he taught briefly. Begala also received the honor of Distinguished Alumnus of The University of Texas at Austin in 2020. Begala was a candidate for student government president. However, he finished second to a write-in campaign for Hank the Hallucination, a character from the campus comic strip Eyebeam. Following his loss, Begala wrote a tongue-in-cheek complaint for the Daily Texan, arguing "I cannot help but feel Hank's platform is illusory at best...I must say that the candidate himself lacks substance". Begala was declared the winner, following a ruling that imaginary characters could not hold the position.

Begala, along with business partner James Carville, helped then-Governor of Arkansas Clinton win the 1992 presidential election. Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton–Gore campaign. Clinton carried 33 states and became the first Democrat elected president since 1976. Begala later served as a counselor to the President in the Clinton White House, where he coordinated policy, politics, and communications.

Aside from the 1992 presidential election, Begala and Carville had other well-known political victories including the 1991 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate victory of Harris Wofford, the 1988 re-election campaign of incumbent New Jersey U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, and the gubernatorial victories of Robert Casey in Pennsylvania in 1986, Wallace G. Wilkinson in Kentucky in 1987, and Zell Miller in Georgia in 1990. Begala later revealed he had favored his former client, Pennsylvania senator Harris Wofford, over Al Gore as Bill Clinton's running mate in the 1992 presidential election.

He was a contributor to John F. Kennedy Jr.'s political magazine George in the late 1990s.