Ken Paxton Heard In Leaked Audio Blaming Iran War For Struggling Senate Run After Publicly Defending US Involvement

Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton admitted in leaked audio released Wednesday that the Iran war was negatively impacting his Senate campaign after having previously defended U.S. involvement.

Paxton told donors and lobbyists during a September meeting that the war and high gas prices were his campaign’s “biggest problem” ahead of the November election, although he previously stated that President Donald Trump was rightly preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, Axios first reported. Affordability remained a top priority for voters, who were subjected to high food and energy prices after the conflict began.

One donor asked Paxton what was “dragging” his campaign.

“It’s not tariffs. It’s the war, it’s gas prices,” Paxton said. “Diesel is over $6 a gallon … people are feeling the pinch. That’s probably the biggest problem … that’s by far our biggest problem.”

Paxton said during the donor meeting that he planned to give Texans breathing room through his tax cut plan, which includes new house and healthcare write-offs and an expansion of the child tax credit. He stated he could not stop the war and had no control over gas prices.

“I’m just trying to figure out ways I can help people. That’s the only way: I can propose legislation,” Paxton said.

“This is a non-story. The Attorney General said what every Texan already knows: gas and diesel prices are too high, and hardworking Texans are struggling at the pump and at the grocery store,” Paxton spokesperson Madison Cercy told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “President Trump is doing everything he can to bring prices down, and Ken Paxton is going to Washington to help him by putting money back in families’ pockets with a bigger child tax credit and larger deductions for health care and buying a home. Texans need immediate relief, and everyone knows James Talarico will raise your taxes.”

Paxton told Fox News in March that Trump “did the right thing” with Operation Epic Fury, arguing the U.S. had to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

“No one wants foreign wars. But the reality is, when you’ve got a country that’s trying to build nuclear weapons, that is willing to use them, and that has demonstrated terrorist activity for decades, 40 or 50 years, you’ve got to deal with that, or eventually it comes to you,” Paxton said.

U.S. gas prices rose roughly 44% to 50% since the Iran war began in February. The average price of regular gas was $4.36 as of Wednesday, while the average for Diesel was $6.30, according to AAA. The Diesel price in October 2025 averaged $3.68.

The rise in Diesel prices prompted the costs of groceries to jump 3.4% on average since January 2025.

Seventeen percent of U.S. adults approved of Trump’s handling of the cost of living, while 26% approved of his handling of the economy overall, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About half of U.S. adults said they were “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to fill up their tanks, which increased from 39% in July.

Trump was set to rally with Paxton Wednesday in San Antonio, Texas.

Paxton said in the same meeting that Republicans’ numbers dropped after the midterm convention in September, accordion to leaked audio from Sept. 30. RealClearPolitics’ Generic Congressional Vote showing Democrats at 50.6% and Republicans at 42.3%.

More than half of registered voters, 53%, said they would vote for Democrats if the election were currently held, while 41% preferred Republicans, according to a PBS News/NPR/Marist poll from Sept. 23.

Paxton trailed behind Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico in the polls. The Texas Democrat led by an average of 3.1 points, according to RealClear Polling.

Talarico stated in 2021 that God was “non-binary” and told a podcaster in May 2023 that he loved transgender children when asked to name something he loved other than his children. He walked back his claim God being non-binary and said he was being “deliberately provocative.”

Talarico claimed in September that he would vote for a national ban on transgender surgeries for minors. He flipped his position on supporting men in women’s sports.

Republicans expected to spend between $150 million and $200 million to save Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. Texas PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund’s super PAC in Texas, planned to spend over $100 million in television advertisements to support Paxton after adding over $35 million to its $65 million in TV reservations.

Cook Political Report, a major elections forecaster, considered the Texas Senate race a “toss up.”