Texas Attorney General, a candidate challenging Sen. John Cornyn for the Republican Senate nomination, told “FOX News Sunday” that attacks against him prove he’s going after the right issues. “When you’re over the target, when you’re fighting, they come after you,” he said. “And you can see, every single legal battle I’ve won.”

SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS: The NRSC, which is obviously backing Senator Cornyn, put out polling that says he is the stronger candidate to head into the general, matched up against potential Democrat primary contender Talarico. Cornyn comes out three points ahead. If you match up with Talarico, he comes out three points ahead. They also looked at the potential that you match up with Congresswoman Crockett if she comes out of the Democrat primary. They give Senator Cornyn a seven-point advantage there and say it is a dead heat for you. So, why are you the better candidate to proceed to the general? KEN PAXTON (R), TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL AND SENATE PRIMARY CANDIDATE: Yes, first, those pools are about right. Every other poll I’ve seen, our internal polling, the Houston Hobby poll, which was just done, shows me either equal or better than John Cornyn. This is a narrative that he’s tried to use, but it’s not true. And I would perform at least as well and probably better in a general election than he would. BREAM: All right, so let’s talk about some of the issues that his campaign and other campaigns are using to point out some things you’ve been through the last few years. “Time” magazine says this, Paxton has a long list of scandals to his name. In 2023, the Republican-led statehouse impeached him on charges, including bribery and abusive of public trust. The Senate did ultimately acquit him. But a year after his impeachment squeaker, he reached a deal with prosecutors to drop felony securities fraud charges against him without admitting guilt. There’s also your divorce and allegations of infidelity. So, how do you answer those who say you’re going to be less palatable to a lot of general election voters who have concerns about those things? PAXTON: Yes, look, they’ve been saying that ever since I’ve been in office. You look at President Trump. He’s gone through numerous legal battles. And I have also but been successful, just like him. When you’re over the target, when you’re fighting, they come after you. And you can see, every single legal battle I’ve won. BREAM: So, let’s get into the money because you heard the guys from Ruthless podcast. If you heard that last segment they said, you know, when you’ve got to spend a lot of money in what should be a reliably red state, whether it’s in the primaries or going into the general, it diverts from being able to, you know, spend in other seats that are critical for the GOP holding onto the Senate. “The Houston Chronicle” has this headline, the editorial board, “Do you want to win or not? Republicans should keep John Cornyn for Senate. They say, at the very least the party will be forced to divert resources from other critical elections in order to defend attacks on what they call Paxton’s well-documented corruption. So, your response to the issue about the funding? PAXTON: Yes. So, first of all, The Houston Chronicle is pretty liberal. And, second of all, John Cornyn has already spent about $ 70 million, on his way to spending over $ 100 million in a primary. I’ve spent — I will have spent about $ 2.5 million by the time we’re done. So, that whole theory and that whole charge doesn’t hold water. It’s just not true. John Cornyn’s already going to spend $ 100 million just in the primary. And when we get to the general, it’s going to be another $ 100 million. BREAM: But that’s a question then, should Republicans be spending this much time and money beating up on each other, bloodying whoever’s the eventual winner to get into the primary, and spending that money that could be maybe funneled to places like New Hampshire and Maine and other places the GOP sees as critical? PAXTON: Oh, I couldn’t agree with you more. I wish they’d stop sending money from Washington, D.C. This is all coming — most of the money is coming from Washington, D.C. So, yes, it would be better spent in those places that you just talked about. Unfortunately, that’s not what is happening. They are sending the money from D.C., and they’re helping John Cornyn. And it’s going to be a lot of money spent, and he’s going to end up losing. BREAM: Well, The Dallas Morning News has this. They say, Democrats see a bruising Republican runoff. They say it Would improve their chances, especially if it ends with Ken Paxton. They see him as the general — the weaker general election candidate. So, are you the favored candidate of Democrats there in Texas? PAXTON: Look, I’m not worried about what the Democrats are saying. I’m worried about winning this primary and taking care of the people of Texas. We’ve had Republican candidates statewide since 1994. I’ve run three statewide races. I’m very confident I can beat whoever the Democrats put up because they’re way too liberal for Texas. BREAM: All right, well, we’ll see if the president decides to weigh in on this very critical GOP primary. We know the voting starts this Tuesday, and we’ll watch to see if you guys end up in a runoff that will take you into May as well.

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