(11-04-2026 11:26 AM)GeminiCoog Wrote: (11-04-2026 11:24 AM)Bobcat2013 Wrote: (11-04-2026 11:16 AM)BlueDragon Wrote: (11-04-2026 11:11 AM)bill dazzle Wrote: Was Ken Paxton the worst of the worst candidates (regardless of party) in the nationwide midterms? I have to wonder.
He was terrible. Not one speech or rally where he actually spoke to the voters. An Insider’s insider for sure.
TBH his daughter did an ad which actually did make a plea and at least connected with people. Paxton was aloof throughout the process.
Now we have Tip Toe through the Tulips to deal with.
How terrified was he of doing a town hall similar to what Talarico did in FTW or a straight up debate? That wasn't a good sign. He needed to do something like that and address the issues that people have with him head on instead of just deflecting and attacking.
In retrospect, yes, you're right. I'm not sure if doing so would've mattered very much, in the grand scheme of things. Still, not doing so definitely hurt him.
He had to avoid both debates and rownhalls. And full normal press conferences.
Every single reporter would have had hefty questions about his sordid practices as AG. They learned that early when they stopped even light introductory pressers.
The last one was a meeting and photo session with Texas sheriffs and their endorsements with him.
The *second* he finished his prepared remarks, and said he would take questions, a reporter asked about him voting in a different part of the county as opposed to his actual residence. He sloughed that question off and literally said ‘ we’re here to talk about law enforcement questions’.
The the next reporter asked him a question about the donor and the vast help he directed to that donors benefit by the AG office (the issue in his impeachment).
His media director jumped straight in before Paxton uttered a word and literally shut down the event.
Debates, town halls, and even non-strictly controlled media events were functionally unavailable to him until he decided to actually address those issues. The end result was a 12 point win in a ruby red state —- kind of a curb stomping.
The TX Repubs would have been way better served by Cornyn or Hurd. Most disaffected Reps would have voted for those two in droves. I have zero doubt either of those two would have won TX. And I have zero doubt that I would have voted for for them either. The result was that I did not vote for the R in that race. Actually, they managed to piss away a lot of voters that would have otherwise voted R in that race.
It’s funny to think that Trump bragged incessantly how ‘his endorsement’ power was so good. That dude ushered in a loss by 12 in that race (a curb stomping defeat in a 2024 R+10(?) state to. D +12. Awesome super power to help his pucks….