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Scott Jennings Makes Shock Admission on Must-Win Candidate

Scott Jennings appeared to concede Republicans could lose their grip on Texas.

Trump loyalist Scott Jennings has all but admitted Republicans could lose Texas in the midterms.

Texas has long been considered a Republican stronghold, with no Democrat winning a U.S. Senate race in the state since 1988.

But polling shows that Democrat James Talarico has a narrow lead over state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was endorsed by Trump.

A New York Times/Siena University poll conducted between September 21 and 30 found Talarico leading Paxton by 51 percent to 45 percent among likely voters.

A victory for Talarico would go a long way toward helping Democrats flip the Senate, with the GOP widely expected to lose control of the House in November.

Jennings appeared to acknowledge the danger during a discussion following Talarico’s CNN town hall on Wednesday.

Assessing the Democratic nominee’s performance, Jennings said: “He is more slippery than a wet panther. That’s what I learned tonight.”

But fellow panelist Ashley Allison quickly turned the remark back on the Republican, suggesting the event had forced him to confront the possibility of losing Texas.

“You learned that you might lose Texas. That’s what you learned tonight. And you know it,” Allison said.

Jennings laughed before responding: “You think I just learned that tonight?”

Allison replied that he had likely recognized the threat earlier but had been reluctant to acknowledge it publicly, adding that the town hall had “solidified” his concerns.

“You probably knew it before, you just were afraid to say it. Tonight solidified that,” she said.

Talarico, 37, faced questions from undecided voters on a range of divisive issues during the 90-minute CNN event, including Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, abortion and foreign aid.

The Texas Democrat sought to present himself as a pragmatic candidate willing to break with his own party when necessary, while making economic inequality and the influence of wealthy Americans central themes of his campaign.

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“I am not running for the U.S. Senate to represent New York or California. I’m not running for the U.S. Senate to represent the Democratic Party,” Talarico said.

“I am running for Senate to represent all 31 million Texans, and I will, I will, I will always do what’s best for Texas, even if that means standing up to my own party.”

CNN anchor Erin Burnett noted during the broadcast that Paxton had also been invited to participate and that the invitation remained open.

Paxton, 63, has so far avoided Talarico’s calls for a debate, despite Trump encouraging the Texas attorney general to face his Democratic rival.

Talarico largely refrained from mentioning Paxton during the town hall, choosing instead to focus on his own candidacy. But he delivered a pointed attack in his closing remarks, accusing his opponent of corruption.

“You may have noticed that I haven’t talked about my opponent at all tonight because I don’t want people to vote … just against Ken Paxton. I want them to vote for me,” he said.

“But the last thing I will say is that we are running against the most corrupt politician in Texas.”

Talarico added that the election offered voters a chance to challenge what he described as a wider culture of political corruption.

“We have an opportunity in this race not just to defeat the most corrupt politician in Texas; we have an opportunity to defeat this entire corrupt system,” he said.

Texas is just one of multiple safe seats that are under threat for the GOP amid record-low approval ratings for Trump.

The tide has been turning against Trump and his party ever since he launched his deeply unpopular war on Iran in February.

The war has caused energy prices to spike. AAA figures show the average price of fuel in the U.S. at $4.33 a gallon, while diesel stands at $6.31.

With the economy at the top of voters’ minds heading into the midterms, polls suggest a difficult road ahead for Republicans.

The RealClearPolitics average has Democrats eight points ahead on the generic congressional ballot, suggesting the party could make significant gains in November.

Privately, Republicans have also voiced doubts about their chances of holding the House. Former Republican congressman Carlos Curbelo, who lost his competitive Florida seat during Trump’s first midterm elections in 2018, described the political climate as particularly difficult.

“The environment is about as tough as one could expect,” Curbelo told Politico. “There is no one who has privately stated that they believe Republicans can hold the House—not in recent weeks, anyway.”

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