Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been one of President Donald Trump’s most loyal allies, with Trump backing his Senate campaign. But in a new private recording, Paxton says one of Trump’s biggest midterm events actually hurt him.
In audio obtained by The New York Times, Paxton is asked about the impact of the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention in Texas earlier this month. His answer is pretty direct.
“When we did that convention it dropped our numbers,” Paxton said. “Everybody’s numbers dropped.”
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‘Manipulated nonsense’
Paxton’s campaign is pushing back hard, calling the Times’ reporting “manipulated nonsense.” It says its latest polling shows his numbers have actually improved since the convention.
When Trump was asked about Paxton’s comments Wednesday, he said he hadn’t heard them. But he defended the convention and pointed to its viewership.
“Well, I haven’t heard that, but I can tell you that the convention was amazing, as you probably know,” he said. “We had 107 million views. Think of that. We had over a hundred million views — [unintelligible] 107 — the NFL had 25 million views. So, we had four times what the NFL did. And, you know, it’s possible that could be true — I don’t know, it’s possible. But other people were helped greatly.”
CNN fact-checked Trump’s claims when he first made them after the convention, finding that the two NFL games airing at the same time drew a combined 43 million viewers, while the convention drew about 7 million.
The convention, dubbed “Trump-a-palooza,” was a first for the RNC. The party doesn’t normally hold a national convention during a midterm year.
The comments come as Paxton faces a competitive Senate race against Democrat James Talarico, with Republicans pouring significant money into a contest they have historically expected to win.
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