Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), the chairman of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, said Ken Paxton was “just wrong” to suggest President Donald Trump’s visit to Texas in September was a drag on his candidacy.
“The truth of the matter is, President Trump and the midterm convention was a boost in the right direction,” Scott told reporters in a Wednesday press call, held to discuss the state of the map one month out from Election Day.
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“Frankly, since the midterm convention, what we’ve seen is — and this is really important for us to see it, by the way — we’ve seen Republican enthusiasm across the country increase significantly, and that’s why there is a record number of toss-up races around the country,” Scott said.
His comments follow leaked audio of Paxton, the GOP Senate nominee in Texas, claiming that his internal polling dropped after the convention, a two-day confab in Dallas that heavily featured the president and was geared toward boosting turnout in November.
“To be honest with you, when we did that midterm convention, it dropped our numbers,” Paxton said, according to the New York Times. “Everybody’s numbers dropped. Yeah. Not good.”
The Paxton campaign dismissed the report as “manipulated nonsense” and said he “looks forward to closing strong alongside President Trump including when he comes to Texas this week.”
The president is traveling back to the state on Thursday for a factory tour outside of Dallas.
Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, closely embraced Trump in the Wednesday press call, telling reporters that it would be his base’s enthusiasm that helps the GOP retain its Senate majority next year.
“These are his midterms, and because of that, the enthusiasm that we wanted to see, Republicans are coming home, and that is reason to be excited,” Scott said.
That prediction is at odds with polling that shows Trump’s approval ratings at second-term lows as well as a Senate map that has grown increasingly competitive over the last month.
Scott hinted at the headwinds facing Republicans as he acknowledged close races in traditionally red states, calling Kansas “more competitive than I’d like to see it.” He added that Nebraska is “tight without question.”
Still, Scott expressed confidence about the electoral landscape, telling the Washington Examiner that he felt “very good” about keeping the Senate in GOP hands and that expanding the majority to 54 seats, up from 53 today, is “not outside the realm of reason.”
“We are looking at a record number of toss-up races in the country, but the good news from our perspective: They’re all within striking distance,” he said at another point.
His assessment is based, in part, on Republicans’ strong fundraising this cycle and Trump’s recent decision to deploy his $400 million war chest. Scott noted his meeting this week with Susie Wiles, the president’s chief of staff, and told reporters that she assured him that “money will not be our problem.”
“The good news is that this will be the best funded midterm for Republicans, I think, in the history of our party,” Scott said.
One point of concern is Texas, where national Republicans have poured well over $100 million into protecting Paxton from Democratic challenger James Talarico. The race is polling within the margin of error or with Paxton slightly behind, though Scott predicted that “Texas will be red — ruby red — at the end of this campaign.”
THE GOP’S KEN PAXTON RESCUE MISSION TOPS $100 MILLION IN TEXAS
Elsewhere on the map, Republicans are defending seats in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, and Ohio. He ticked through Georgia, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Minnesota as pickup opportunities.
In terms of midterm travel, Scott said he’d spend the rest of the election in “all the toss-up” states and that he hoped to fly with Trump to Alaska.
