Sen. John Cornyn slammed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as a “lazy” and “poor campaigner” Friday as he explained why he won’t help the Republican Senate nominee in his race against Democrat James Talarico.
Cornyn, who lost to Paxton in the bitter Texas GOP Senate primary runoff election earlier this summer, explained in an interview with the Texas Tribune that while he wants to see Republicans hold their majority in the upper chamber after the midterms, he isn’t going to fundraise for Paxton because he hasn’t made a compelling case to Lone Star State voters.
“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 locked in a tight race with Talarico, who has about a 2 percentage point lead, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.
Talarico, a Democratic state rep, also holds a massive fundraising advantage over Paxton. His campaign committees have raised a total of $72 million, including $31.6 million in the last quarter ending in July, while Paxton has only raised a total of $16.8 million, including $9.3 million last quarter.
Many of Cornyn’s top donors have sat out the Senate race since the longtime senator’s defeat in the runoff, according to the Texas Tribune.
The four-term senator suggested President Trump, who appeared at a Houston fundraiser for Paxton on Thursday, should be the one cutting checks 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 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.
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