A leaked recording reveals Paxton attributing his polling disadvantage to the U.S. war on Iran and gasoline prices.
On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump is traveling to Texas to campaign ahead of the congressional elections, while Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton is blaming the White House for his disadvantage in the polls, according to a leaked recording.
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The president will participate in an election rally at 6 p.m. local time in San Antonio alongside Paxton, the current Texas attorney general and one of his longtime allies.
The race for the Texas Senate seat has become one of the most significant ahead of the Nov. 3 elections, as the state has been considered a Republican stronghold, but the RealClearPolitics polling average has Democrat James Talarico three points ahead of Paxton.
According to audio published Tuesday by the digital newspaper Axios, Paxton attributed his polling disadvantage during a fundraising event to the war with Iran and the increase in gasoline prices resulting from the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
“It’s the war, it’s gasoline prices, it’s diesel,” Paxton is heard saying. He acknowledged that the high cost of living is his “biggest problem by far” and that his campaign is “having difficulty with the numbers.”
Texas Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton privately told donors that the Iran war and high gas and diesel prices are hurting his campaign, saying affordability is “by far our biggest problem.”
Paxton said diesel above $6 a gallon is driving up food and other costs, but stressed…
— Clash Report (@clashreport) October 7, 2026
Last week, The New York Times published another leaked recording in which Paxton said the Republican convention that Trump organized in September in Dallas, had hurt his prospects in the polls.
The U.S. war on Iran and Trump’s economic policies threaten to take a toll on Republicans in the elections, in which they could lose their current majorities in both chambers of Congress to Democrats.
Trump, however, has thrown himself fully into the campaign, holding a series of election rallies, and has urged his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement base to turn out to vote as if he himself were on the ballot, turning the elections into a kind of referendum on his performance.
“I think we’re going to do very well. The rallies I do every night have changed things. We’re letting people know what the Republicans have done, and it’s incredible,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.
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Source: EFE
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