Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton poses for a photo with supporters during a campaign stop in McAllen last week. Credit: X / @KenPaxtonTX

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing accusations that he lied about the size of the crowd that showed up to his first campaign rally of the general election.

Paxton, who’s running against Democrat State Rep. James Talarico for the state’s open U.S. Senate race, hosted a rally Tuesday at the University Draft House in McAllen, then fired off a tweet the following morning bragging about the turnout.

“763 people in McAllen, TX last night,” an X account connected to Paxton’s campaign posted.

It didn’t take long for questions to arise about the claim.

First, the University Draft House in McAllen only has a capacity of 414 people, according to its website. What’s more, MyRGV reported in its rally coverage that Paxton drew “a modest audience, topping out at 100 attendees.”

Paxton’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to the Current’s request to explain its reported attendance figure of 763.

In the absence of an explanation, Texas Democratic Party Chairman Ryan Martin was happy to fill in the blank. He fired off a statement accusing Paxton of being a “pathological liar.”

“A very low-T move by the Paxton campaign,” Martin said, playing on Paxton’s campaign decision to name-call his opponent at “Low-T Talarico.”

Paxton’s latest bad press arrives fresh off his controversial Fourth of July trip to London with his alleged mistress and new allegations he may have committed voter fraud.

Indeed, the AG’s growing list of scandals has even alarmed some GOP operatives. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, recently told a right-wing media source that Talarico “has a real chance” of flipping the Senate seat blue, which would mark the first time in three decades a Dem has held statewide office in Texas.

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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,...