Texas Attorney General and Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton told Breitbart News Saturday that he is seeing growing enthusiasm among Republican voters as his campaign works to increase turnout, close a fundraising gap with Democrat James Talarico, and draw attention to Talarico’s positions.
Paxton told Breitbart News Political Editor Bradley Jaye that he expected a difficult summer after emerging from a three-month runoff that Talarico did not have to go through, saying Talarico “had the ability to raise money for three months that I didn’t have.”
“I started June 1 with basically $0,” Paxton said, while Talarico “had just raised 30 million,” which Paxton said came largely from California and New York. Paxton said his campaign had spent the summer raising money after beginning June with essentially no funds.
Jaye noted that Democrats had pointed to polling showing Talarico performing competitively and that Breitbart News had analyzed polling on August 4 that found Talarico had not reached a winning margin, while the uncommitted voters were voters who traditionally vote Republican. Paxton said he was encouraged by what he had seen as the race entered mid-August. “This is when people start coming back from vacations,” he said, adding that after rallies over the previous two weeks, “I’ve never seen more excitement at things that I’ve been at.”
“I know that our voters are starting to get motivated, and that’s the key,” Paxton said. He argued that his campaign must turn out Republicans while informing them about Talarico’s positions, accusing the Democrat of “trying to deceive voters right now” and “running from all these radical positions that he voted on.” Paxton cited issues involving girls’ sports, gender transitions for children, a state income tax, and diversity, equity, and inclusion policies in schools before characterizing Talarico as “really a radical socialist.”
Asked what Texans could expect if Talarico were elected to the Senate and joined the Democratic coalition in Washington, Paxton told listeners to “close their eyes” and imagine Talarico representing the state before considering his positions. “Now open your eyes up,” Paxton said. “That’s a nightmare.” He argued that it would send “a bad, bad signal for the entire country” if Texas elected someone he described as advancing a “woke leftist agenda” aligned with Democratic Socialists.
The interview also turned to Republican unity following the contentious primary. Jaye pointed to the endorsements Paxton recently announced from 18 Republican members of Congress from Texas and asked whether Republicans in the state were beginning to come together behind him. “This is a binary choice,” Paxton said, contrasting what he called “a radical leftist and a conservative Republican.”
Paxton said he has been “doing a lot of work reaching out to people” and explaining his positions to them. He acknowledged that Republicans do not always get their preferred candidate but said he ultimately moves on and supports the Republican nominee. “Everybody I vote for doesn’t win, but eventually I move on and vote for the Republican,” Paxton said.
Paxton added that he would have supported incumbent Sen. John Cornyn had Cornyn won, saying he was repeatedly asked during the race whether he would back him in that scenario. “Absolutely, no doubt about it,” Paxton recalled answering, saying he would have supported the Republican nominee because he considers Talarico “the most dangerous candidate in Texas that we’ve ever had.”
Jaye, who said he previously worked in Texas politics for Rep. Brian Babin, another Paxton endorser, asked why Democrats repeatedly target Texas and argue that the state could turn blue. Paxton said Texas is on Democrats’ “top wish list” because of its electoral importance. “If they take Texas, we’re not going to elect another president from the Republican Party,” he argued, adding that Republicans would also struggle to maintain a congressional majority.
Paxton alleged that Democrats have “California rigged” and “many of these other liberal Democratic states rigged” because of what he described as poor election laws. He said Democrats hope to take Texas because, in his telling, they already have “three of the largest four states.” He also acknowledged the difficulty the president’s party can face in a midterm election, saying “a midterm year tends to be tougher for the party in power.”
Paxton pointed to Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s close challenge to Sen. Ted Cruz as an example of why Democrats continue investing in Texas. “I think it was less than a two-point race for Ted Cruz, and they’re hoping for the same thing here,” Paxton said. “We just got to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Jaye also noted that Paxton won his primary without help from Washington and said spending supporting Paxton during the primary had been around $4 million. Asked whether national Republicans were now prepared to support his campaign, Paxton said he believes they understand the consequences of losing the Texas seat. “If we lose Texas, the Senate’s gone,” he said. “We’re not going to hold the Senate.”
Paxton said he has since had “great conversations with leadership in the Senate” and said, “I think they’ve been very supportive,” though he was still waiting for campaign resources. “I’m waiting, obviously, on some financial assistance, which I think is coming,” he said, arguing that they recognize “the stakes are high.”
Paxton also discussed the fundraising gap between the campaigns, which he attributed to the three months Talarico had to raise money while Paxton was in the Republican runoff. Paxton said his opponent began spending approximately “$3 million a week” on television advertising in early to mid-July, while his own campaign was still accumulating enough money to respond. “We start at zero,” Paxton said, adding that his campaign is working to gather enough resources “to be on TV.”
Paxton urged supporters to contribute so the campaign can “close the gap” and said additional television advertising would allow him to highlight Talarico’s record. He argued that Talarico’s own commercials would “try to cover it all up,” while his campaign would use its resources to tell voters “who this guy really is.”
The conversation then turned to the SAVE America Act, which Jaye described as a top legislative priority for President Donald Trump. During the runoff, Paxton had said he would consider dropping out of the Senate race if the Senate acted to pass the legislation, which Jaye characterized as an effort to spur establishment senators to act. Asked what needs to change in the Senate, Paxton said the issue comes down to lawmakers having the courage to do what they believe is right. “A lot of them, they know what the right thing to do is,” he said.
Paxton argued that “We have to protect the elections” and said “Elections are not safe right now.” He said that in “almost any of the Democratic states,” people do not have to show photo identification, officials “don’t have to check” voter rolls to make sure noncitizens are not voting, and mail-in ballots can be sent out without what he considers adequate ballot security. “That has to be fixed, or we are going to lose this country,” Paxton said.
Paxton said he believes lawmakers understand the issue but argued that acting on it requires political courage. “It’s just a matter of having the courage to do it,” he said. Paxton said there were “a few Republican senators” who would not vote for the measure and expressed interest in hearing their reasoning.
“I’d love to talk to them,” Paxton said, asking why senators opposed to the measure are “not interested in protecting national elections” and why election security is not “a motivating factor for them.” He argued that “All this other stuff that we’re for isn’t going to matter if we can’t protect our election and have the opportunity to have a majority.”
Jaye also asked Paxton about Trump’s endorsement of him during the Republican runoff and Vice President J.D. Vance’s subsequent comments, made in response to a question from Breitbart News White House correspondent Nick Gilbertson, that Trump’s endorsement should serve as a message to Republican senators and potential challengers about responding to Republican voters and supporting the president’s agenda. Paxton said, “I love President Trump. I love his agenda. I think we should support it.”
“We don’t have these opportunities forever,” Paxton said, arguing that Republicans have “limited time to make a difference for America” and “shouldn’t waste a single day.” He said elected officials should be responsive to voters, listen to them, and “at least engage with them and try to understand what they want.”
Paxton acknowledged that voters and lawmakers will not agree on every issue but said elected officials should generally be “doing the work of the people” and responding to those who elected them. He again cited the SAVE America Act, saying, “I don’t think there’s a more popular issue in America than the Save America Act. So why don’t we pass it?”
“It doesn’t make sense to be non-responsive to the people that elected you,” Paxton added.
LISTEN HERE
Read the full article here
