Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Ken Paxton is less than a month out from the conclusion of a D.C.-outsider campaign for a Texas U.S. Senate seat that he privately admitted is being run by Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign and, like, what issues are going to matter because it\u2019s all coming \u2014 you know \u2014 from D.C.,\u201d Paxton said during a small fundraising event last month, according to an audio recording obtained by POLITICO from a person in the room who does not support Paxton, and verified by another attendee.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t control message or what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lunch, hosted Sept. 24 in Washington by Chris Brinson and Susan Hirschmann of the D.C.-based lobbying firm Williams & Jensen, was attended by about a dozen people including Scott Kopple, VP of government relations at defense contractor BWXT.<\/p>\n
\u201cTexas is a big state, and some of these issues obviously resonate with real \u2014 I\u2019ll call real people \u2014 you know, like back home,\u201d Kopple, who did not respond to a request for comment, said to some chuckles in the room. \u201cI know you need money to get the message out and stuff, but how does this stuff translate?\u201d<\/p>\n
Paxton replied saying: \u201cI miss the days when I could go to, get around with all the people. But we have 32 million people, so let\u2019s just say for the next 40 days I\u2019m in front of 1,000 people a day \u2014 which I\u2019m not \u2014 and that\u2019s 40,000 people. Ten to 10.4 million people are gonna vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut then it comes down to your messaging,\u201d he continued, \u201cwhich in a federal race comes from other people a lot of times, which you don\u2019t control.\u201d<\/p>\n
One attendee granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting said that Paxton never explicitly said he was referring to Trump\u2019s team controlling his campaign, but \u201ceverybody knew what he was talking about.\u201d The person said Paxton\u2019s comments came amid a broader discussion about the national political environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t have ability to change anything,\u201d Paxton went on. \u201cSo I have to live with whatever I\u2019ve got. So it is a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paxton campaign adviser Nick Maddux said, \u201cCampaigns don\u2019t coordinate with super PACS and that\u2019s obviously what AG Paxton was referring to,\u201d in a statement to POLITICO. \u201cAG Paxton is thankful for the support and knows how important Texas is to keeping the majority which is why he\u2019s on the ground every day talking to Texas, raising money, and taking his message directly to the people including with his statewide television buy that started over this past weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neither Hirschmann nor Brinson responded to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
In an audio recording of the same meeting obtained by The New York Times<\/a>, Paxton told attendees the midterm convention hosted by Trump in Texas last month \u201cdropped our numbers. Everybody\u2019s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.\u201d Maddux described the article as \u201cmanipulated nonsense.\u201d Playbook hasn\u2019t heard the contents of the rest of the hourlong meeting.<\/p>\n The most recent New York Times\/Siena poll<\/a> has Paxton running 6 points behind Democratic challenger James Talarico.<\/p>\n The private comments follow a bitter primary campaign waged against Republican incumbent John Cornyn, whom Paxton framed as a \u201cWashington insider\u201d<\/a> and \u201cRINO\u201d<\/a> while publicly aligning himself with Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cHis money is coming from the D.C. establishment,\u201d Paxton said of Cornyn while campaigning in Texas before the primary, the AP reported<\/a>. \u201cThat\u2019s how they always try to convince us from Washington with their money that we should select their person. Well, I\u2019m not their person and I\u2019m never going to be their person.\u201d<\/p>\n Paxton maintains a cash advantage heading into November and announced a $20 million ad buy<\/a> last month. The Senate Leadership Fund, a top GOP super political action committee closely aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, pledged millions to back Paxton<\/a> earlier in September.<\/p>\n Like this content? Consider signing up for POLITICO’s Playbook newsletter<\/a>.
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