Senate GOP Has Zero Budgeted for Paxton

Paxton conceded the race is tight but disputed the public polling. "I don't trust all these polls. We have our own polling that suggests maybe a little different result, but we definitely have a close race," he said. He said he expects help from Trump's MAGA Inc. PAC — which the Independent reports holds a war chest of more than $800 million — and from Senate Republicans, to stop the seat from producing "California's third senator." He declined to say whether he raised money with Trump during the president's Texas trip.

Cornyn is not helping. He has told reporters he will not campaign or fundraise for Paxton. "Paxton's a poor campaigner," he told The Texas Tribune last week. "He's lazy and doesn't raise money. And he basically is not offering a very compelling case for his election." Cornyn added that Paxton is "making this harder than it needs to be."

Trump has said publicly of the race, "we want to win that race," per the Journal, which called the president's endorsement Paxton's "biggest asset."

Talarico kept up the pressure over the weekend, needling Paxton over his campaign-trail attire in an exchange the Daily Mail wrote up as a Four Seasons gaffe.