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Must-Win MAGA Candidate Faces ‘Secret Underground’ Revolt

The Texas attorney general’s constant scandals are becoming too much for the key voting bloc.

Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign could be in more trouble as the Texas Republican loses crucial support among suburban women.

Several female voters told The Washington Post that they are so turned off by the scandal-plagued Texas attorney general that they plan to back his Democratic opponent, James Talarico, in the Nov. 3 midterms, or avoid the election altogether.

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These key voters have cited the numerous controversies surrounding Paxton as reasons for abandoning him. They include: Paxton’s impeachment by his own party over corruption, bribery, and obstruction-of-justice allegations; his wife filing for divorce last year on “biblical grounds” after rumors of an affair surfaced; and surveillance footage that showed him stealing a lawyer’s $1,000 pen from a courthouse in Dallas.

“I start to feel like it’s this secret underground club who don’t want Paxton in office,” Maria Kostecka, 66, a retired preschool teacher who is supporting Talarico, told the Post.

Kostecka added that several female friends and neighbors had approached her to show their support after she began displaying Talarico signs outside her home in Harris County.

Michelle Burch, a 42-year-old elementary school teacher, describes herself as a fiscally conservative, socially liberal independent voter. While her husband plans to vote for Trump-endorsed Paxton, she has been put off by the constantly embattled Republican.

“I’m teaching kids here’s what you do, here’s what you don’t do. And Paxton is not someone you can look up to,” she told the Post, citing the pen theft.

“How you treat people should matter,” Burch said, adding that Paxton is “not trustworthy.”

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Elsewhere, Democratic canvasser Nyna Saenz said that while most of her conservative, religious family members plan to vote for Paxton in November, at least one intends to abstain because of Paxton’s alleged affairs.

Multiple polls have shown Talarico leading Paxton in the crucial Texas Senate race. On Sunday, a CBS News/YouGov poll showed the Democrat with a two-point lead, 51 percent to 49 percent, with the midterm elections just weeks away.

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Paxton has also sought to appeal to women voters by presenting himself as a family man. Earlier this month, Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, who is divorcing Paxton amid allegations of infidelity, appeared in a campaign video urging people to vote for the “Republican ticket” in the midterms without mentioning her estranged husband by name.

Paxton also posted a video of himself speaking with his adult daughter, Mattie, to offer the “best advice for young parents.”

Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said the ads were “a rearguard attempt to stem the flow of women supporters and win back some of the conservative women who can’t bring themselves” to vote for Paxton.

“He knows that gap exists and he’s trying to make it as small as possible,” Jones told the Post. “Republican primary voters made the decision to nominate the most deeply flawed Republican statewide candidate in modern history and that’s bearing fruit right now because Paxton has trouble winning anyone but the core Republican voters.”

It remains to be seen whether the ads will have any effect. Maria Smith, a 48-year-old mother of two, said she voted for Sen. John Cornyn in the bitter Republican primary but now plans to vote for Talarico because, unlike Paxton, “he always answers questions directly.”

Smith added that the ad featuring Angela Paxton was “an even bigger turnoff” for her.

“It’s ‘Do as I say, not as I do,’” she said, adding that she expects some conservative neighbors not to vote for anyone on Nov. 3.

The Daily Beast has contacted Ken Paxton’s team for comment.

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