Senator John Cornyn criticized Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, describing him as a "lazy" and "poor campaigner" during an interview with the Texas Tribune on Friday. Cornyn, who lost to Paxton in the Texas GOP Senate primary runoff earlier this summer, stated that he will not assist Paxton in fundraising efforts for the upcoming Senate race against Democrat James Talarico. Cornyn expressed concerns that Paxton has not made a compelling case to voters in Texas. "Paxton’s a poor campaigner," Cornyn said. "He’s lazy and doesn’t raise money. And he basically is not offering a very compelling case for his election. He’s making this harder than it needs to be."
According to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, Talarico holds a narrow lead of approximately 2 percentage points over Paxton. Talarico, a Democratic state representative, has a significant fundraising advantage, having raised a total of $72 million, including $31.6 million in the last quarter ending in July, compared to Paxton's total of $16.8 million, with $9.3 million raised in the same quarter.
Cornyn noted that many of his top donors have refrained from participating in the Senate race since his defeat in the runoff. He suggested that former President Trump, who recently attended a fundraiser for Paxton, should contribute to Paxton's campaign. "He could write a check if he wanted Paxton to be the nominee, with all his wrinkles and warts — then it’s a simple solution to that," Cornyn stated.
Cornyn further criticized the Paxton campaign for not reaching out to mainstream traditional Republicans in Texas, saying, "I can’t tell that any of the supporters of Paxton have done diddly squat to reach out to what I would call mainstream traditional Republicans in Texas." Despite Texas not electing a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, Cornyn expressed concern that this year's race could be challenging for Republicans, stating, "This is unfortunately shaping up to be a close and I hope not disastrous election. But it ain’t looking good right now." The Paxton campaign did not respond to requests for comment.