Donald Trump’s scandal-ridden Texas Senate candidate has been caught up in another embarrassing audio leak.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, 63, told a group of lobbyists and donors at a D.C. fundraiser last month that he believes it’s Trump’s war with Iran and the soaring cost of living that are killing him in the polls, the leak reveals.
This is now the third time Paxton’s been caught on tape complaining about the president, 80, who’s due to stump at a rally for the Senate hopeful on Wednesday.
An attendee at the Washington function asked Paxton, who’s fallen increasingly behind his 37-year-old Democratic opponent James Talarico since the summer, which issues are “dragging” him down among voters, according to an audio recording of the exchange obtained by Axios.
Paxton replied that “it’s not tariffs” so much as “it’s the war, it’s gas prices, it’s diesel.” He added that the higher cost of fuel “drives up food prices and everything else,” that “people are feeling the pinch,” and that “we’re having a hard time with numbers” because it’s made unaffordability “by far our biggest problem.”
The Texas attorney general was clear about who he blames for voters’ woes. “So many factors in this federal race are uncontrollable,” he said. “I don’t make the decisions, and I don’t know what’s behind some of the decisions,” he added, seemingly referring to the president.
Trump won re-election in 2024 partly off the back of a campaign promise to end foreign military entanglements and boost the economy. His war with Iran, which he pledged would last a “few weeks” and has now dragged on for more than seven months, has driven the price of oil to record levels and contributed to already persistently high inflation.
A leaked tape last month also captured Paxton saying Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas had dented his standing in the polls. Another over the weekend showed him complaining that the White House had too much control over his campaign.
The latest recording comes as Trump heads to San Antonio to speak at a Republican National Convention rally built around Paxton’s Senate race. That appearance follows a CNN report last week that found Paxton has set a record as the least popular Texas Senate GOP nominee so far this century.
Paxton’s efforts to win the election are not helped by his history of scandals and controversies.
Lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Texas House impeached him in 2023 over allegations of corruption in office. The state Senate later acquitted him, but not before proceedings revealed he allegedly had an extramarital affair.
His wife is currently divorcing him on “biblical grounds.”
Trump backed Paxton over incumbent Sen. Jon Cornyn, and Republicans have since poured at least $131 million into his campaign, with just under a month left to go before the Nov. 3 vote.
A spokesman for Paxton’s campaign told Axios the leak was “a non-story.”
“The Attorney General said what every Texan already knows: gas and diesel prices are too high, and hardworking Texans are struggling at the pump and at the grocery store,” the spokesman said.
“President Trump is doing everything he can to bring prices down, and Ken Paxton is going to Washington to help him by putting money back in families’ pockets.”
The Daily Beast has contacted Paxton’s campaign and the White House for comment on this story.
