President Donald Trump spent Wednesday selling Ken Paxton as the next U.S. senator from Texas — and spent as much time talking about Paxton’s clothes, looks and TV interviews.
Trump made the pitch three times: on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s podcast, to reporters in the Oval Office, and later to Republican lawmakers in the White House Rose Garden, The Dallas Morning News reported. In each setting he called Paxton the most effective attorney general in the country and urged voters to choose him over Democrat James Talarico, a state representative from Austin.
In the Oval Office, Trump said some people “don’t like the way he dresses” or “the way he interviews or talks,” but that Paxton “was the best attorney general in this country for the last ten years or more,” according to the newspaper. In the Rose Garden he went further: “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 … and that speaks a lot louder than the suit he’s wearing that doesn’t look so great.”
Trump also pledged to campaign in Texas for Paxton. He endorsed Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP runoff this spring. Paxton won that race and is the Republican nominee in the November midterm.
Paxton has been Texas attorney general since 2015. He has been a close Trump ally, including on legal fights after the 2020 election. He also survived an impeachment trial in the Texas Senate in 2023 and has faced years of legal and political controversy. Talarico is running as a critic of Paxton’s record and of Trump.
The Senate race is one of the most watched in the country because Texas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1994. No injuries or official actions are tied to Wednesday’s remarks. They were political comments, not a policy announcement.
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