Karl Rove says Republican Party is being taken over by ‘Nazis’

Longtime Republican political operative Karl Rove said his party is being taken over by “Nazis” and railed against the moral failings of U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton during a one-on-one interview at the Texas Tribune Festival over the weekend.

The former George W. Bush White House deputy chief of staff’s criticism comes as Republicans grow increasingly concerned they may rack up serious setbacks in the 2026 midterms as Democrats, including state Reps. James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa surge in the polls.

Worse for Republicans, those polls showing Talarico, a former San Antonio public school teacher running against Paxton in the U.S. Senate race, appear to be accurate, Rove said during his appearance in Austin.

“In the last 48 hours, Ted Cruz has reached out to me and says, ‘We’re losing,’ Ken Paxton has sent me several emails saying, ‘I’m losing, I need your help,’” Rove said. “Even the Republicans are admitting that they’re behind.”

Rove said Paxton is struggling for support despite a $100 million-plus cash infusion from the conservative Senate Leadership Fund because of the state attorney general’s laundry list of past scandals, including a messy public divorce and a bribery scandal in which his own staff reported him to the FBI.

“If [U.S. Sen.] John Cornyn were the nominee, this race would be over. But when you’ve got a guy that has multiple girlfriends and $200,000 worth of improvements in his house from a corrupt business guy whom he does favors,” Rove said. “Can you make this shit up? I mean, really.”

Rove’s colorful commentary didn’t stop there. He also pledged to vote for Democrat Jon Rosenthal in the race for Texas Railroad Commissioner instead of Bo French, whom he described as a “bigot.”

That pledge came after Rove, in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, attacked French for a post he made on social media platform X earlier this month. In it, French shared a photo of South Asian students celebrating at a University of Texas football game and implied that foreigners were displacing American students.

“My party is being infiltrated by people like Bo French,” Rove said. “Nick Fuentes goes to Dallas and meets with a bunch of Republican leaders. This guy is a Nazi. We’ve got all these people getting on their little podcasts and so forth, saying: ‘We’re just asking questions about the Jews.’”

Rove added that welcoming people such as French and far-right podcaster Fuentes into the Republican Party will hurt conservatives in the long run.

“We didn’t labor in the wilderness to build a conservative party that was inclusive and welcoming … to see it taken over by a bunch of bigots,” Rove said.

Texas voters have until Oct. 5 to update their voter registration in the upcoming 2026 midterms. Early Voting runs from Oct. 19-30. Election Day is Nov. 3.

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