There once was performative schmuck named Paxton...
Ken Paxton speaks during a conservative rally. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Gage Skidmore

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign seems to have a hot mic problem.

On Thursday, another leaked audio recording of the Republican U.S. Senate candidate surfaced, this one capturing remarks that appear to contradict his campaign’s earlier position that he wouldn’t cut Social Security.

In the clip, Paxton is heard talking with D.C. lobbyists about slashing “mandatory spending,” a category of federal expenditures that includes Social Security along with Medicare and Medicaid.

“Making some reasonable cuts to mandatory spending — you’re gonna have to do it,” Paxton said in the recording obtained by the Texas Tribune. “Or there is no solution. That’s just the reality. We have to suck it up. And we, from Republican presidents to Democrats, we’ve been spending like crazy. And no one seems to care. And it’s gonna bankrupt us. It’s just a matter of time.”

Paxton is then heard laughing alongside D.C. lobbyist Jeanne Haggerty, who was joking about paying too much in taxes.

“I would really like to pay my fair share of taxes, which is less than I’m paying right now,” Haggerty says as Paxton chuckles.

Paxton’s stance in the audio recording differs sharply from a statement his campaign gave the Current in August. At that time, the campaign’s deputy communications manager, Noah Jennings, said his boss was against any cuts to Social Security.​

“Seniors worked their entire lives and paid into Social Security with every paycheck,” Jennings told the Current. “They earned these benefits, and Washington has no business cutting them. Attorney General Paxton will fight to protect Social Security for today’s retirees and keep that promise for our children and grandchildren.”

One person who didn’t find Paxton’s audio recording worth a chuckle is Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, a political group that campaigns to protect retirees’ Social Security benefits.

“This is a sick man who thinks it’s a joke to push over a million Texans into poverty by stealing their hard-earned benefits,” Lawson said. “This is a man who should not be allowed anywhere near the levers of power, since clearly he thinks working people are a joke to be laughed at with the billionaire donors he works for.”

The leaked audio is the latest headache for Paxton, who is in a virtual tie with his Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico.

President Donald Trump campaigned alongside Paxton in San Antonio on Wednesday in an effort to boost the attorney general’s poll numbers. After the rally, Trump ordered Paxton in a Truth Social post to debate Talarico before Election Day.

Talarico, who is recovering from the flu, quickly accepted the challenge. But the attorney general’s campaign still hasn’t said whether it plans to obey Trump’s directive.

Election Day is Nov. 3.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...