Sen. John Cornyn sharply criticized Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday, calling him “lazy” and a “poor campaigner” while explaining why he has no plans to assist the Republican Senate nominee in his general election fight against Democrat James Talarico.
Cornyn, who was defeated by Paxton in a bruising Texas GOP Senate primary runoff earlier this summer, told the Texas Tribune that he still wants Republicans to maintain control of the Senate after the midterm elections. But he said he is not willing to raise money for Paxton, arguing that the nominee has failed to make a persuasive pitch to voters across the Lone Star State.
“Paxton’s a poor campaigner,” Cornyn told the outlet. “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.”
Paxton is currently in a close Senate race with Talarico, who leads by roughly 2 percentage points in the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.
Talarico, a Democratic state representative, has also built a commanding fundraising edge. His campaign committees have brought in $72 million overall, including $31.6 million during the most recent quarter ending in July. Paxton, by comparison, has raised $16.8 million total, with $9.3 million coming in during the last quarter.
The Texas Tribune reported that many of Cornyn’s leading donors have remained on the sidelines in the Senate contest since the longtime senator lost the runoff to Paxton.
Cornyn, a four-term senator, suggested that President Trump — who appeared at a Houston fundraiser for Paxton on Thursday — should be the one helping fill the Republican nominee’s campaign coffers.
“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 said.
The Paxton campaign hasn’t done “diddly squat” to woo Cornyn’s supporters, the senator charged.
“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,” he said.
Texans haven’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, but Cornyn fears this year’s race could be “disastrous” for Republicans.
“This is unfortunately shaping up to be a close and I hope not disastrous election,” Cornyn said. “But it ain’t looking good right now.”
The Paxton campaign did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
