Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is venting frustration over his lack of control in the Texas Senate race — and the irony isn’t lost on anyone: the same Washington establishment he spent months trashing during his primary fight against Sen. John Cornyn is now spending hundreds of millions trying to save his campaign.
A source in Paxton’s political orbit told Fox News Digital the Republican Senate nominee appears frustrated as he faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in what’s now rated a toss-up race.
The frustration spilled into public view after Politico obtained audio from a late-September lunch Paxton attended in Washington. On the recording, Paxton said he’s never felt less in control of a campaign.
“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 D.C.”
Paxton added on the recording: “I don’t control message or what we’re doing… I don’t have ability to change anything. So I have to live with whatever I’ve got. So it is a challenge.”
The comments were made during a Sept. 24 lunch hosted by a D.C. lobbying firm. Politico reported it obtained the recording from an attendee who does not support Paxton.
Paxton campaign adviser Nick Maddux pushed back, telling Fox News Digital that “campaigns don’t coordinate with super PACs and that’s obviously what AG Paxton was referring to.” Super PACs and outside groups are legally prohibited from coordinating directly with candidates over spending.
Maddux added that 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 Texas, raising money, and taking his message directly to the people.”
The irony is hard to miss.
During his bruising primary battle against Cornyn, Paxton relentlessly attacked the senator as a “Washington insider” and a “RINO” — Republican in name only. Paxton campaigned as the MAGA firebrand outsider, contrasting himself with Cornyn’s establishment backing.
“I think John spent $100 million. What a waste of money. That money should have been going to Republicans in other states, not fighting another Republican,” Paxton told Fox News Digital in March on the eve of the primary.
Groups aligned with Cornyn vastly outspent pro-Paxton groups during the primary, running ads highlighting Paxton’s political baggage — including a 2023 impeachment by the Texas House (he was acquitted by the state Senate) and an ongoing contentious divorce.
Cornyn, backed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, repeatedly warned that if Paxton won the nomination, Republicans would be forced to spend millions defending the seat and that down-ballot candidates would suffer.
Now, those warnings are coming true — and the same establishment groups that tore Paxton down in the primary are scrambling to prop him up in the general.
Ad-tracking firm AdImpact projects up to $850 million will be spent in the race.
“The same people who tore him down earlier this year are now trying to rebuild him,” the Paxton source told Fox News Digital.
The source added bluntly: Paxton “genuinely doesn’t like the DC people.”
In a separate recording from the same lunch obtained by The New York Times, Paxton suggested the GOP midterm convention in Dallas last month hurt Republican polling across the board.
“Dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good,” Paxton said.
Maddux dismissed the reporting as “manipulated nonsense.”
The latest Fox News poll in the race, conducted Sept. 24-28, shows Talarico with a slight 51%-49% edge over Paxton. The race is rated a toss-up in the most recent Fox News Power Rankings, alongside Senate battles in Ohio, Michigan, Maine, Iowa, and Alaska.
The Paxton source said the candidate appears to be in uncharted territory.
Pointing to Paxton’s ballot-box victories as a state lawmaker and his 2014 election plus 2018 and 2022 re-elections as attorney general, the source said, “I don’t think he’s ever been in a campaign situation where he’s been the underdog.”
The race to succeed Cornyn is one of roughly a dozen contests that will determine whether the GOP holds its Senate majority in the midterm elections. Paxton defeated Cornyn in the primary with an 11th-hour endorsement from President Donald Trump ahead of the runoff.
Now Paxton must navigate the final stretch relying on the very establishment machine he spent months campaigning against — while trying to hold off a surging Democratic challenger in a state Republicans can’t afford to lose.
