Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s reelection campaign is rolling out its first negative ad of the bruising primary contest Wednesday, accusing his challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, of repeatedly funding far-left activist groups while serving as the state’s top prosecutor.
The release of the video Tuesday, titled “Crooked Ken: Funding the Left” comes two days after a poll commissioned by a Cornyn-aligned super PAC showed Paxton up by double digits over the incumbent, but also trailing former Democratic Texas Rep. Colin Allred in a hypothetical general election matchup. The Cornyn campaign is launching an initial five-figure ad buy to boost the 45-second video torching Paxton’s record as attorney general, which will be aired on social media platforms.
“Ken Paxton says he’s fighting the left,” the video’s narrator says. “But behind closed doors he’s cutting them checks.”
The Cornyn campaign alleges that Paxton doled out millions to liberal activist organizations through the Texas office of attorney general (OAG), including to immigration advocacy groups and entities that espouse left-wing gender ideology since assuming the top prosecutor role in 2015.
“The Office of the Attorney General under Ken Paxton has given over $7 million in grants to 13 organizations that provide legal aid to illegal immigrants, promote DEI and ESG values and provide ‘gender affirming’ resources to children as young as seven,” Cornyn campaign senior advisor Matt Mackowiak told the DCNF. “These left wing groups do not represent our conservative Texas values. Ken Paxton needs to explain how this happened on his watch. Taxpayers should be irate.”
Paxton called the attack “a new low” in a statement to the DCNF.
“John Cornyn is trying to score political points by putting rape victims in the crosshairs, peddling desperate attacks regarding blind grants — which are passed and funded by the Texas Legislature — designed to help sexual assault survivors,” Paxton said. “He will do anything to hide the fact that he’s tried to undermine all of President Trump’s campaigns and called the border wall ‘naive.’ This is a new low, even for a Washington career politician like him.”
The grants highlighted by the Cornyn campaign were primarily issued under the OAG’s Crime Victims Compensation program, which provides financial assistance to victims of violent crime. One entity mentioned in the video also received grants for sexual assault prevention and crisis services and funding from a separate sexual assault program that provides financial resources to rape crisis centers among other objectives.
A person familiar with the grantmaking process told the DCNF that Paxton’s office used blind scoring to evaluate the applicants and that the funding reimbursed entities that provided financial assistance to victims of crime, including sexual assault.
The March primary showdown is roughly ten months away. Despite just over a month elapsing since Paxton announced his primary challenge, the contest has grown increasingly cutthroat.
“In ten months, when Texas GOP primary voters completely understand the record of both candidates, we are confident we will win,” Mackowiak said Monday.
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