Texas Attorney General and GOP Senate candidate Ken Paxton privately badmouthed President Donald Trump’s midterm convention, audio recorded at a private fundraiser and obtained by The New York Times revealed on Wednesday.
“This is more manipulated nonsense from The New York Times to create a story that doesn’t exist,” said Nick Maddux, a Paxton adviser, speaking to the Times.
According to the Times, the audio recording was captured at a private fundraiser in Washington, D.C., last Thursday attended by “roughly a dozen people.” In the audio, Paxton is heard being asked about the GOP midterm convention held in Dallas earlier this month, which saw Trump deliver lengthy speeches on both days of the two-day event.
In the audio recording, a person is heard asking Paxton, “Do you feel like he’s a little bit of a drag?”
“So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers,” Paxton could be heard saying. “Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”
The Times reported that the audio was captured by an attendee of the fundraiser who “opposes Mr. Paxton’s campaign,” and was granted anonymity due to Paxton’s remarks being “private.” The private conversation was corroborated by two other attendees at the fundraiser, the Times reported, with a third attendee confirming Paxton having been at the fundraiser in question.
While Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas in more than three decades, a “staggering” amount of cash has been poured into the race to bolster Paxton’s electoral prospects as polls increasingly show the attorney general trailing his Democratic opponent, Texas state Rep. James Talarico.
Nevertheless, Maddux dismissed claims that Paxton’s campaign was struggling.
“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,” Maddux told the Times. “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.”
