Ken Paxton has a problem. And it isn’t coming from Democrats.
Some of the voters who helped put Donald Trump back in the White House now have some very choice words for the Texas Republican hoping to join him in Washington.
A recent focus group conducted by The New York Times brought together 12 Texas voters who supported Trump in 2024 but are now either considering Democrat James Talarico or thinking about skipping the Senate race altogether.
When asked to describe Paxton in one word, they didn’t exactly reach for the thesaurus.
“Crook,” said Robert D., a 63-year-old independent.
“Criminal, crook, all those. Yeah,” said Sebastian, a 50-year-old independent.
“Two words: morally corrupt,” said Robert S., a 52-year-old Republican.
And they weren’t done.
Other descriptions included “disgusting,” “womanizer,” “amoral” and “controversial.”
This wasn’t a Democratic focus group.
These were Trump voters.
That makes the reaction particularly notable.
When Robert D. was asked why he considered Paxton crooked, he pointed to what he viewed as Paxton’s record as Texas attorney general.
“There are criminals that he’s let off the hook, so to speak,” Robert said. “It’s just a lot of different things like that.”
Paxton has certainly accumulated plenty of political baggage.
He survived an impeachment effort in the Texas House in 2023, although the Texas Senate later acquitted him. He has also faced long-running legal controversies, including state securities-fraud charges dating back years.
Trump nevertheless backed Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary.
Now Paxton is trying to make the leap from Texas attorney general to U.S. senator.
And some voters who previously backed Trump are essentially saying: Thanks, but no thanks.
The contrast with Talarico was striking.
When participants were asked about the Democratic candidate, the descriptions were generally more positive.
“Fresh,” Sebastian said.
“Progressive,” said Jeffrey, a 34-year-old independent.
Others used words such as “inspiring” and “new.”
But don’t mistake that for a Talarico lovefest.
Some participants weren’t sold on him either.
One voter called him “ineffective.” Another described him as “neutral.”
Pam, a 66-year-old Republican, said she disagreed with Talarico’s morals and questioned whether his emphasis on morality was genuine.
And there was another revealing wrinkle in the focus group.
Seven of the 12 participants said they would vote for John Cornyn over Talarico if Cornyn were the Republican nominee.
That’s significant because Trump made a very different choice.
He backed Paxton.
And now Paxton is facing a general election in which recent public polling has shown Talarico holding small leads, including a six-point lead in the latest NPR/Marist survey conducted Sept. 17–20. Other recent surveys have shown the race much closer, with margins of one to three points.
In other words, this isn’t some runaway race. It’s a knife fight. And Paxton is walking into it with years of political baggage that his own party’s voters aren’t necessarily willing to ignore.
The focus group doesn’t prove that Texas voters broadly feel the same way. Twelve people are twelve people.
But it does expose something Paxton probably doesn’t want highlighted: even voters who backed Trump are struggling to see Paxton as the candidate they want representing Texas in the Senate.
