Republicans left reeling in the wake of Texas' devastating election defeats are scrambling to point the blame - as GOP operatives and campaign strategists decry one of the 'worst' campaigns they've ever seen.
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they → leave → campaigns
A scandal-plagued Ken Paxton was left humiliated on Tuesday night when James Talarico pulled off a political earthquake to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Texas in nearly 40 years.
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Talarico → plague → years
GOP insiders are now fuming over how Paxton managed to cost them a crown-jewel seat - even after President Trump gave his endorsement and hundreds of millions of dollars was poured into conservative super PACs in support of his campaign.
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hundreds → fume → campaign
‘Ken Paxton ran the worst campaign I’ve ever seen,' a source close to the White House told the Daily Mail hours after the results were announced.
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results → run → Mail
But insiders say the blame doesn't solely rest on the Texas attorney general.
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blame → say → general
‘Trump cost Republicans more on Tuesday than any president in modern history, but Texas was the worst loss of the night,’ one GOP strategist fumed.
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strategist → cost → night
‘Trump made things bad, but his handpicked Senate candidate [Paxton] made it worse.
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it → make → ?
It was one thing to lose the Senate, but Trump and Paxton cost Republicans every statewide office.’
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Trump → lose → office
A scandal-plagued Ken Paxton (above) was left humiliated on Tuesday night when James Talarico pulled off a political earthquake to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Texas in nearly 40 years
Talarico’s breakthrough marks a historic political earthquake in the Lone Star State, making him the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Texas since 1988 after defeating Paxton by 12 points
In the lead up to the election, Paxton's campaign and his Republican allies repeatedly referred to Talarico as 'Talafreako' and tried to peddle wild theories about the Democratic candidate.
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campaign → plague → candidate
‘It was only made worse with half-baked crackpot theories pushed by Paxton allies such as Caroline Wren that Talarico was off hiding in a nuthouse,’ the White House source said of Paxton's disastrous campaign.
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source → make → campaign
Wren, a GOP fundraiser, was slammed last month on social media for amplifying the narrative that Talarico was at an Ohio mental hospital after Paxton supporters, including Trump, and influencers started questioning why the candidate was absent from the campaign trail.
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candidate → slam → trail
The narrative took off after Wren shared with an X account called ‘tickletexts ’screenshots of a random private jet that had taken a roundtrip flight from Austin, Texas, to Ohio.
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that → take → Ohio
From there, Wren suggested that Talarico could be at the Lindner Center of Hope, an Ohio mental health facility.
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Talarico → suggest → Hope
The Talarico campaign insisted that he was recovering from the flu and repeatedly rejected the allegation that he was at the facility, despite several right-wing influencers pushing the claim.
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influencers → insist → claim
When pressed post-election on Paxton’s loss and the criticism of her pushing the narrative about a mental hospital, Wren dismissed the ‘anonymous blame game.’
‘There was a blue tsunami that wiped out Republicans regardless of how good a candidate they were, so count me out for playing the anonymous blame game in the press,’ Wren told the Daily Mail.
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Wren → press → Mail
‘It’s time to focus on how we move forward as a party and get back to what the voters care about, which is domestic policy that affects their daily lives.’
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that → ’ → lives
GOP insiders are now fuming over how Paxton managed to cost them a crown-jewel seat - even after President Trump gave his endorsement
Paxton's supporters were emotional as the devastating election results rolled in on Tuesday night
In the wake of Paxton's loss, GOP operatives and campaign strategists have decried it as one of the 'worst' campaigns ever seen
Trump, for his part, hasn't escaped the blame game, insiders say.
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insiders → fume → game
‘The only person who could have changed anything... was the president,’ a longtime GOP operative familiar with the race told the Daily Mail.
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operative → change → Mail
'His team was working off his instructions, as was every single operative and candidate – many of whom he handpicked and kept on a very short leash when it came to disagreeing with him.’
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it → work → him
While Trump initially kept his finger off the scale in the heated GOP primary for the Texas Senate race, he ended up endorsing Paxton over John Cornyn, the sitting senator widely seen as an establishment conservative, a week before the runoff.
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he → keep → runoff
Trump, who described Paxton, as a ‘true MAGA Warrior,' attended multiple rallies for his pick in the weeks ahead of the general election – mixing pleasantries with roasts, even joking that he was dragging Paxton across the finish line.
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he → describe → line
During another rally, he took a shot at Paxton’s looks, saying he had told people Paxton ‘may not be the best looking guy I’ve ever seen.’
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I → take → people
He also called Paxton a ‘pain in the a**’ before praising him as ‘the greatest attorney general in the United States of America.’
But even with Trump's backing, Paxton ultimately struggled to move past his headline-dominating ethics investigation and infidelities.
A senior Trump administration official defended Trump in the wake of the loss, instead taking aim at the ‘illiterate morons that thought they could lie, cheat and steal to force the party behind a candidate with more scandals than a college frat house.
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they → call → house
‘They will be the same grifters who aim to convince the president that they were right and try to hijack the White House into another first-term knife fight disaster,’ the official continued.
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official → aim → disaster
While Trump initially kept his finger off the scale in the heated GOP primary for the Texas Senate race, he ended up endorsing Paxton a week before the runoff.
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he → keep → runoff
He would go on to do multiple rallies for Paxton (above) in the weeks ahead of the general election
‘The only skill they have is pointing fingers, and if the White House even considers advancing this half-brained strategy into his final two years, the party and his movement will never see another victory again.’
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party → go → victory
Asked if Trump regretted supporting Paxton, the White House referred the Daily Mail to Trump's response to Fox News’ Bret Baier early Wednesday.
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House → ask → Baier
I found him to be a disloyal guy.
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him → find → ?
To be honest, when it wasn't fashionable, he wasn't there,’ Trump said.
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Trump → say → ?
Speaking about his MAGA base, Trump added: 'They didn't like the candidates and some of the candidates that I endorsed fought me and they didn't like that they fought me.
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they → speak → me
'I mean, this MAGA base is incredible.
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base → mean → ?
The most loyal people, the greatest people, the people that built America.'
In the wake of the backlash, one GOP operative who worked closely on several midterm races was quick to dismiss the criticism of Trump and Paxton, telling the Daily Mail that the loss was a result of a ‘historic rebuke’ of the GOP.
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loss → build → GOP
He added, too, that a Cornyn nomination would not have made a difference given Talarico's 12-point lead.
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nomination → add → lead
‘It's a historic rebuke of the party,' the operative said.
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operative → say → party
Republicans didn't turn out and Democrats turned out, and Independents won for Democrats, and basically everyone said, "F**k you, Republicans."’
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everyone → turn → you
While Republicans and Trump allies have been fuming over the Texas race, a Democratic strategist praised Talarico - and torched Paxton as a ‘comically corrupt insider.’
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strategist → fume → insider
‘The contrast in this race could not have been more clear: James Talarico is a generational talent who ran on decency while Republicans at the same time nominated a comically corrupt insider who could not stop doing corruption,’ Democratic strategist Eric Koch said.
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Koch → run → corruption
The Daily Mail reached out to the Paxton campaign for comment.
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Mail → reach → comment
The Aporia
