President Donald Trump on Wednesday offered up a scathing review of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s physical appearance but vowed to campaign for the Texas Senate nominee and a host of other Republican contenders in tight races ahead of November.
Paxton, who is running against Democratic nominee James Talarico, is one of multiple GOP candidates embroiled in razor-thin races, as Republicans battle to hold slim majorities in both chambers of Congress this fall.
During a Rose Garden dinner with swing-district GOP lawmakers, Trump said he would campaign for Paxton, among dozens of others, in the final 30-day sweep leading up to the Nov. 3 elections. The president ridiculed Paxton’s style, telling attendees “you might not like the way he looks,” but handed him a pass, saying voters should still back him because of his political prowess as “the best attorney general in the country.”
“So Ken Paxton, you might not like the way he dresses, and I say this — it’s so insulting to him, but I might as well say it. You might not like the way he looks. You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews, but he was the best attorney general in the country — perhaps he was one of the best in the entire country, and that speaks a lot louder than the suit he’s wearing that doesn’t look so great, or than anything,” Trump said during the event.
“Everybody admits it. He was a great attorney general in Texas,” the president said. “We’re going to go to Texas and work for Ken Paxton, who’s a great guy.”
Trump revealed during the Rose Garden remarks that he plans to target 35 races across the country in roughly 30 days. He asked House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to give him a list of candidates in tight races and teased a series of “tele town halls,” saying he could do up to 10 in one night.
In Texas, Paxton is currently trailing Talarico by under 3 percentage points, according to the 270toWin average of polling data. In general, polling paints an uneven picture of the race, with some surveys showing Talarico winning, others having the race tied, and one showing Paxton winning.
“It’s all about 35 races,” the president said. “I’m going to go to every one of those 35 places, and we’re going to see if we can get everyone elected. You know, I think it’s work. Then we’re going to do the tele town halls. They’re fantastic. They work amazingly.”
“We’re going to really work hard. So we’re going to take that little, that final 30 days. We don’t want to go too much before that because people forget. But we’re going to take that final 30 days, Mr. Speaker,” Trump continued. “So I’m relying on you guys to give me some names where I say is either tied, where you’re winning by a little bit, or you’re losing by a little bit. In some cases, you can be losing by a lot, and we’ll bring you over the line. But mostly, it’s if you’re close, and we’ll get — I think we’ll get all those people elected.”
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In Texas specifically, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has warned the party will need Trump’s resources to produce a win, pointing to the amount of money that has been poured into the race. In the fundraising department alone, Paxton and Talarico’s campaigns have raised nearly a combined $100 million.
“Because Texas is such an expensive state, we’re going to need the president and his team to be engaged there and to be putting resources into that race,” Thune said on Tuesday.
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