Ken Paxton won the Republican nomination for US Senate by casting incumbent John Cornyn as a Washington insider. Now, a month from Election Day, Paxton is telling donors Washington is calling the shots in his own campaign.
“I’ve never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign and, like, what issues are going to matter because it’s all coming—you know—from DC,” Paxton said at a small fundraiser last month, according to audio obtained by Politico. “I don’t control message or what we’re doing.”
The recording offers a rare look at the strain inside one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. Paxton, who built his brand fighting the political establishment, now finds himself in a tight race against Democrat James Talarico, increasingly dependent on national Republicans and outside groups to carry his message, and frustrated by how it’s going.
The remarks came at a Sept. 24 fundraiser in Washington. Politico obtained the audio from an attendee who doesn’t support Paxton, and another attendee verified it.
“But then it comes down to your messaging, which in a federal race comes from other people a lot of times, which you don’t control,” Paxton said. “I don’t have the ability to change anything. So I have to live with whatever I’ve got. So it is a challenge.”
Paxton didn’t say who was steering his message. One attendee told Politico that while Paxton never named Trump’s team, everyone in the room understood what he meant.
Paxton’s campaign said he was talking about super PACs, which by law can’t coordinate with candidates.
“Campaigns don’t coordinate with super PACS and that’s obviously what AG Paxton was referring to,” Paxton campaign adviser Nick Maddux said in a statement to Politico. He added Paxton is “on the ground every day,” and pointed to a statewide television ad buy that began last weekend.
Outside money has done much of the talking for Paxton this fall. For most of the summer, Talarico had the airwaves largely to himself while Paxton’s campaign spent no more than $20,000 a week on ads. Since then super PACs backing Paxton have spent millions on ads attacking Talarico.
Ken Paxton’s leaked audio problem
It’s the second leaked recording from a Paxton fundraiser in less than a week. Last week, The New York Times reported audio in which Paxton said Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas hurt his poll numbers.
“To be honest with you, the numbers—when we did that convention—it dropped our numbers,” Paxton said.
The private remarks contrast with how Paxton ran in the primary, when he attacked Cornyn as a creature of Washington while aligning himself closely with Trump, who endorsed Paxton over the incumbent.
Paxton has also yet to agree to debate Talarico, who has accepted invitations to three televised debates.
In a statement about the leaked audio, Talarico offered a simple explanation for his opponent’s latest complaint: “Ken Paxton is a puppet.”
Election Day is Nov. 3. Early voting in Texas begins Oct. 19.
