No One Wants to Give Money to Ken Paxton’s Campaign Anymore

Texas’s Republican Senate nominee, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, is struggling to raise funds thanks to his scandal-laden career and a nasty primary.

The New York Times reports Wednesday that major Republican donors have so far refused to spend money on Paxton’s campaign, where he is polling behind James Talarico, who could be the first Democrat Texas sends to the Senate since 1993. Those donors had spent money in the state’s Republican primary, which placed a spotlight on Paxton’s extramarital affair and criminal charges over alleged state securities fraud.

After Paxton narrowly secured the GOP nomination following a runoff with incumbent Senator John Cornyn, these donors’ opinions haven’t changed, especially since the attorney general has been seen traveling with his mistress and now has been accused of committing voter fraud.

Two of the GOP’s biggest money committees, the Senate Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc., haven’t spent any money on Paxton’s campaign despite President Donald Trump backing him. It’s become an open secret that each is waiting for the other super PAC to pony up millions of dollars, according to the Times. The former is run by people close to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and who backed Cornyn in the primary, while the latter is run by Trump advisers.

“Somebody is going to have to spend big money,” Dan Eberhart, an oil executive raising funds for Paxton, told the Times. “We’ll see who blinks.”

Other national Republican groups plan to spend money on other Senate races in Ohio and Kansas, even though those races aren’t as close as Texas. As of early July, Talarico has nine times as much cash in his main campaign account as Paxton does, and has already spent $12 million in ads. He also continues to rake in money from wealthy Democrats in places such as Chicago and Martha’s Vineyard. Will Trump and the GOP step up to bail out Paxton? ...