Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said President Donald Trump’smidterm convention in Dallas hurt his standing in the Texas Senate race, according to a report by The New York Times.
In a Sept. 30 report, the Times said it obtained an audio recording of Paxton speaking to conservative donors and lobbyists last week. In the muffled recording, someone asks, “Do you feel like he’s a little bit of a drag?”
It's unclear who the person was asking about, the Times reported.
Paxton, who wasendorsed by Trump, responds: “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.”
Trump worked to rally his loyal base on Sept. 9-10 during a first-ever Republican midterm
convention at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, attempting a rescue mission to energize his party and stop a Democratic takeover of Congress.
Paxton is facing Democratic challenger James Talarico in a close race, according to several recent polls. A recent Big Data Poll, conducted Sept. 24-26, found Talarico leading Paxton among registered Texas voters, 43.6% to 39.3%. Among likely voters, Talarico led 44.6% to 41.6%.
Talarico vs. Paxton polls
Here's what September polls have shown so far:
- Texas Southern University (Sept. 22) — Talarico 47%, Paxton 46%.
- ReconMR Texas Poll (Sept. 17) — Talarico 49%, Paxton 43%.
- Emerson College (Sept. 17) — Talarico 47%, Paxton 46%.
- Mason-Dixon Polling & Research (Sept. 15) — Talarico 46%, Paxton 43%.
- SoCal Strategies (Sept. 13) — Talarico 50%, Paxton 45%.
- AARP (Sept. 10) — Talarico 48%, Paxton 44%.
- N+ Univision (Sept. 9) — Talarico 48%, Paxton 43%.
Natassia Paloma may be reached at npaloma@gannett.com, @NatassiaPaloma on X, natassia_paloma on Instagram, and Natassia Paloma on Facebook.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Report: Paxton says Trump convention in Texas hurt his campaign
