Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general chosen by Donald Trump to run as the Republican candidate for a Senate seat, admitted in private that his campaign was being controlled by outside forces in Washington DC.

Paxton, who is locked in a competitive race with the progressive Democrat James Talarico, told people at a fundraising event in September that he had never felt such little control over his campaign because of outside influence.

“I’ve never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign and, like, what issues are going to matter because it’s all coming – you know – from D.C.,” Paxton said, according to an audio recording obtained by Politico.

“I don’t control message or what we’re doing,” Paxton said.

An unnamed attender told Politico that Paxton never explicitly said he was referring to Trump’s team controlling his campaign messaging but that Paxton’s comments arose during a conversation about the national political environment.

Paxton’s campaign adviser Nick Maddux said in a statement, “Campaigns don’t coordinate with Super Pacs, and that’s obviously what AG Paxton was referring to.

“AG Paxton is thankful for the support and knows how important Texas is to keeping the majority which is why he’s on the ground every day talking to Texas, raising money, and taking his message directly to the people including with his statewide television buy that started over this past weekend,” Maddux said.

Earlier this year, Trump chose Paxton to run against Talarico, a political newcomer who Democrats hope will flip Texas’s longtime red senate seat to blue in the midterm elections next month.

Though Paxton has been a well-known conservative figure in Texas for years, he has also been embroiled in a series of scandals. Paxton was impeached in 2023 on allegations including bribery and abuse of public trust – though he was later acquitted. Paxton’s wife, Angela Paxton, also divorced him on “biblical grounds”, citing adultery.

Polls show Paxton and Talarico neck-and-neck, with Talarico having a small lead over the Texas attorney general.

A Fox News survey found Talarico at 51% and Paxton at 49% among likely voters. A New York Times/Siena College poll found Talarico at 51% and Paxton at 45% among likely Texas voters. A Marist University poll indicated Talarico had 50% while Paxton had 44% among registered voters.

Paxton’s latest comments are the second reported critical remarks the Texas attorney general has made about outside involvement in his campaign.

Last week, the New York Times reported that Paxton admitted that Trump’s Republican National Convention for the midterms “dropped” his polling numbers.

Asked whether the convention had negative consequences, Paxton replied: “So to be honest with you, the numbers – when we did that convention – it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”

Maddux told the New York Times that Paxton’s reported comment was “manipulated nonsense from The New York Times to create a story that doesn’t exist”.