President Donald Trump is not putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to getting scandal-plagued Ken Paxton elected to the US Senate.
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As part of a Wall Street Journal report on the Texas Attorney General’s campaign cash woes, the Journal is reporting that Trump’s visit to the state last week for a fundraiser left Paxton out in the cold.
According to the report, Democratic opponent James Talarico has hauled in a massive $68 million from big- and small-dollar donors, “dwarfing “Paxton’s $9 million. Though still considered “a long shot in deep-red Texas,” Talarico is fueling Democratic hopes of winning statewide office there for the first time since the 1990s — race raters at Fox News, Cook Political Report and the Center for Politics have all shifted the contest from “leans R” to “toss-up.”
“Texas Republicans have challenges in the race,” the Journal is reporting. “They are managing fury over the Trump administration bulldozing sensitive habitats in Big Bend National Park for border-wall infrastructure planned in the park. They have been navigating rising voter opposition, especially in rural areas, to construction of new data centers. They have seen backlash to a new state ban on some THC products. And they have continued to have to defend the state of the economy under Trump.”
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According to the Journal, Paxton’s “biggest asset” remains Trump’s backing, which carried him through a brutal primary against Sen. John Cornyn, with the president telling reporters, “we want to win that race.”
However, proceeds from Thursday’s Houston fundraiser featuring Trump are going to the Republican National Committee (RNC), where it remains to be seen if any of it is allocated to Paxton.
Paxton “needs the cash badly,” the Journal is reporting. His record of suing Texas businesses as attorney general has alienated “wealthy potential donors.” Pro-Paxton super PACs like “Preserve Texas” have reserved just over $4 million in ads, compared with more than $30 million reserved by Talarico’s campaign.
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