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An audio recording of a private conversation between U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton (R-Texas) and conservative donors last week reveals that he may view President Donald Trump as a “drag” on his and other Republicans’ campaigns.
It’s unclear whether the discussion in the recording is directly about Trump, and parts of it are difficult to hear or understand. In the recording, a donor asks Paxton, who is the current Texas attorney general, whether the candidate feels “like he’s a little bit of a drag,” without explicitly stating who “he” is.
Paxton responds by discussing the recently held GOP midterm convention, which was heavily promoted by Trump.
“So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good,” Paxton says in the recording.
The conversation occurred during a GOP fundraising event last week. The New York Times obtained audio of the discussion from a source who attended the event, who describes themselves as opposed to Paxton’s campaign.
The conversation — whether Trump was the subject or not — is likely to upset the president, who called for as many Republicans as possible to attend the midterm convention. The event, held in Paxton’s home state of Texas, was billed as a means to promote GOP candidates throughout the country, though many in the party were skeptical of having Trump as the headliner.
Trump has embarrassed Paxton, too, albeit more publicly. Earlier this month, Trump said Paxton “may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen,” at an event where he was attempting to promote the candidate.
Paxton may be correct that the midterm convention for the party hasn’t helped him or other Republicans. According to an average of polling data collected by FiftyPlusOne, Paxton was within 2-3 percentage points of his Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, during the first few days of September. Currently — weeks after the convention was held — Talarico has expanded his lead slightly, leading Paxton by 3-4 points in the polls over the past several days of averages.
Republicans in general have seen their numbers slip since the convention. In an Economist/YouGov poll conducted from September 4-8 (just days before the convention began), Democrats led Republicans by 11 points among likely voters. In the most recent poll, conducted September 25-28, that lead has widened to 15 points.
Other surveys have indicated that Republicans’ continued fealty to Trump is dragging them down, making it more likely that Democrats will win control of the House and potentially even the Senate in the midterms. According to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 45 percent of Americans said they wanted their vote to be viewed as symbolic opposition to the Trump administration, while only 24 percent said they wanted it to be seen as a vote in support of Trump.
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