WASHINGTON — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been caught on leaked audio raging against the state of his Senate campaign, griping DC operatives and top GOP party honchos have more influence over it than he does.
“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 vented at a fundraiser last month, according to audio released by Politico Playbook on Monday.
“I don’t control message or what we’re doing.”
When asked about the audio, an official for the Paxton campaign claimed that the AG was expressing frustrations with super PACs, which have dominated messaging during the Senate race.
“Campaigns don’t coordinate with super PACs, and that’s obviously what AG Paxton was referring to,” Paxton adviser Nick Maddux told The Post.
“AG Paxton is thankful for the support and knows how important Texas is to keeping the majority, which is why he’s on the ground every day talking to Texans, raising money and taking his message directly to the people, including with his statewide television buy that started over this past weekend,” Maddux said.
The audio tape came from an attendee who isn’t backing Paxton, according to Politico.
Paxton’s frustration comes as he faces a brutally tough race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in what has become a pivotal match-up for Republicans.
Talarico currently has a 2.8 percentage point edge over Paxton, according to the latest RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls.
The competitive nature of the race has frustrated operatives in DC because Texas is a red state and they’ve been forced to divert tens of millions of dollars to it.
Some Republicans, such as Paxton’s former primary rival, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), have knocked him for not campaigning more aggressively.
President Trump has publicly mocked Paxton over his attire — which has included wrinkled pants, untucked t-shirts and a form of boots at public events — and a manner of speaking that reputedly suggests the AG doesn’t present well.
Top party brass such as the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Trump’s former co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita backed Cornyn over Paxton in the primary, fearing the AG would be vulnerable in a general election.
Paxton has numerous scandals under his belt, including cheating on his wife, an indictment on securities fraud charges in 2015, an impeachment three years ago on accusations of obstructing justice, accusations of giving preferential treatment to a donor and misappropriating public resources.
Last week, another audio recording of Paxton leaked in which he was heard venting to conservative donors and lobbyists that Republicans took a hit after the Trump-championed GOP midterm convention in Dallas.
“To be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention, it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped,” Paxton lamented to the gathering, according to audio obtained by the New York Times.
“Right now, yeah, not good,” Paxton said.
Trump had mocked Paxton during the GOP gathering, poking fun at him for a variety of issues before telling the crowd to vote for him.
The president later told reporters that the GOP midterm convention, also known as “Trump-a-palooza,” was a significant boost to Paxton.
“I think the fact that we had such a successful convention really helped Ken Paxton,” Trump told reporters last month. “He was a big part of it. And look, I mean, he was a great attorney general. Ken Paxton was a great attorney general, and continues to be, and I think that counts for a lot.”
