Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Texas’ U.S. Senate race, was caught talking shit about President Donald Trump on a hot mic, according to audio obtained by the New York Times.
Specifically, Paxton said at a private donor dinner last Thursday that Trump’s Dallas midterm convention — a first-of-its-kind event dubbed “Trump-a-palooza” — hurt not only Paxton’s polling but other GOP candidates’ chances for victory.
The recording, which is muffled at times, captures Paxton being asked, “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,” responded Paxton, who currently serves as Texas Attorney General. “Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”
The audio was shared with the Times by an attendee who recorded Paxton speaking at a private fundraiser in Washington, D.C. The person who provided the audio to the paper remained anonymous in the piece but said they were opposed to Paxton’s campaign.
The Times reports that it confirmed Paxton’s response to the question, which was posed privately, with another attendee at the event.
Nonetheless, Paxton’s camp denies the story wholesale.
“This is more manipulated nonsense from the New York Times to create a story that doesn’t exist,” Nick Maddux, a senior Paxton adviser, told the Times.
“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 added. “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.”
Trump is expected to visit Peterbilt Motors’ manufacturing facility in Denton this Thursday to highlight “the resurgence of American manufacturing.”
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