Trump-backed Ken Paxton blames POTUS' convention for his campaign setback: ‘Dropped our numbers’

WASHINGTON, DC: Donald Trump may have expected loyalty from his endorsed candidate, but Ken Paxton’s latest remarks have put their alliance ahead of the midterm elections under a sharper spotlight.

The Texas attorney general and Republican Senate candidate, a staunch Trump ally and prominent figure in the MAGA movement, reportedly complained to donors last week that his poll numbers had been hurt by the President’s hastily organized midterm convention in Dallas.

The president may have taken jabs at Paxton’s outfit at the convention, but he endorsed the Texas Republican during his bitter primary fight against incumbent GOP Sen John Cornyn in May. Trump also recently directed $20 million from his MAGA Inc super PAC to support Paxton against James Talarico.

Ken Paxton blames Trump convention for poll drop

In an audio recording obtained by the New York Times, Paxton is heard speaking to a group of conservative donors and lobbyists during a meeting on Capitol Hill.

One of them asked him, seemingly referring to the president: "Do you feel like he's a little bit of a drag?"

"So to be honest with you, the numbers – when we did that convention – it dropped our numbers," the candidate answered, adding, "Everybody's numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good."

Three people familiar with the event also confirmed to The New York Times that Paxton attended the private fundraiser, with two of them recalling his remarks about the GOP midterm convention.

The Paxton campaign pushed back against the report, calling it "manipulated nonsense."

“Our latest poll from the last week has Ken Paxton leading by three points, and every serious pollster will tell you that our numbers have improved since early September,” Nick Maddux, a senior adviser to Paxton, told The New York Times.

“Ken Paxton is going to win this race, and he looks forward to closing strong alongside President Trump, including when he comes to Texas this week,” he continued.

Paxton is running against Talarico in heavily Republican Texas. Talarico has drawn significant attention on the campaign trail and raised substantially more money than his rival, giving the race an unusually competitive profile.

Trump responds to Ken Paxton’s leaked remarks

Trump was questioned about Paxton’s leaked remarks on Wednesday, September 30, but dodged the questions, saying he "hadn't heard that" about it.

"But I can tell you that the convention was amazing, as you probably know,” he commented in the Oval Office.

He then touted the convention's viewership and argued that "other people were helped greatly" by the two-day event, which promoted Republican candidates and focused heavily on his record.

Trump is scheduled to make a campaign stop in Denton, Texas, on Thursday, although it remains unclear whether Paxton will attend.

In September, Trump headlined an unprecedented two-night midterm convention in Dallas aimed at rallying support for Republican candidates as the party heads into a challenging election cycle.

Although Paxton, the GOP Senate candidate in Texas, might have been expected to take center stage at the event, his support among some Republicans has remained muted following his bruising primary fight against incumbent Sen John Cornyn, a major party fundraiser.

When asked about the audio on Wednesday, Cornyn said "whoops!" When pressed further by CBS News, he added that Paxton has not led in public polls and warned, "it's a tough environment, period."