Still a crook any way you look
Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas, told a group of conservative donors and lobbyists last week that President Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas had hurt Mr. Paxton politically, according to an audio recording obtained by The New York Times.
The recording, which is muffled at times, captures Mr. Paxton being asked, “Do you feel like he’s a little bit of a drag?” It is not clear from the audio whom the questioner is referring to.
Mr. Paxton responds: “So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”
The audio of Mr. Paxton was shared with The Times by an attendee who recorded him speaking at a private fund-raiser in Washington attended by roughly a dozen people. The person, who opposes Mr. Paxton’s campaign and provided the recording to The Times, was granted anonymity because Mr. Paxton’s remarks were private.
Three other people with knowledge of the event confirmed Mr. Paxton’s attendance. Two of these people recalled that Mr. Paxton had been posed this question, and one recalled his response about the negative consequences of Mr. Trump’s convention.
Asked about the remarks, Nick Maddux, a senior Paxton adviser, said that “this is more manipulated nonsense from The New York Times to create a story that doesn’t exist.”
“Our latest poll from the last week has Ken Paxton leading by three points, and every serious pollster will tell you that our numbers have improved since early September,” Mr. Maddux said. “Ken Paxton is going to win this race, and he looks forward to closing strong alongside President Trump including when he comes to Texas this week.”
[…]
Mr. Paxton’s comments at the Washington fund-raiser echo other private whispers by Republicans that the party’s convention would not be helpful, given Mr. Trump’s sagging approval ratings.
Since the gathering, the midterm outlook for Republicans has only darkened, leaving Mr. Paxton in a precarious position just five weeks before Election Day.
He has trailed narrowly in many recent polls to his Democratic rival, James Talarico, leaving Republicans hoping that a huge surge of spending from outside groups and Texas’ traditional conservatism can carry Mr. Paxton to victory. Mr. Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., has joined the effort to help Mr. Paxton, throwing $20 million behind his bid.
It remains unclear whether the Republican convention was in fact politically harmful to the party’s midterm candidates; the event did not appear to have a significant impact on public surveys of the Texas Senate race.
Here’s that internal poll referenced in the story, via The Downballot. Make of it what you will. I’m just going to leave this here:
You have to believe now that the Paxton campaign releasing their internal poll showing him up three points was preemptive.
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) 8:32 AM – 30 September 2026
Really, what else is there to say? Well, that maybe Donald Trump won’t like it that Paxton said this. And wouldn’t that be a shame?
Did Ken have to pay for the privilege of attending? Because that would be hilarious.