Allies of Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, rolled out a new digital ad Wednesday, attacking Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, his Republican primary opponent, for accepting nearly $660,000 in potentially illegal campaign contributions.
"Ken Paxton's Senate campaign just got busted. More than 100 potential illegal donations worth $658,000 allotted for the primary," the narrator says in the 34-second ad, referring to a Federal Election Commission (FEC) letter sent to Paxton's campaign Sunday regarding second quarter campaign fundraising efforts.
"From the state having to pay settlements to whistleblowers speaking out against Ken Paxton, failing to report income, to these latest campaign finance violations, it's clear that Texas cannot trust Ken Paxton," the ad continues.
According to the San Antonio Current, the FEC is investigating Paxton over the donations, which may have exceeded campaign finance law contribution limits. The outlet reported that federal regulators have demanded the Paxton campaign address the "apparent excessive, prohibited, and impermissible contributions" by Sept. 22.
The ad is the latest attempt by Cornyn and his allies to damage Paxton's image with voters and cut into his polling edge as the incumbent Republican asks voters to return him to the Senate for a fifth term.
The spot also alleges that Paxton violated campaign finance laws during his 2022 attorney general reelection campaign by failing to disclose the donors who contributed more than $2 million on time.
In a statement to the Daily Caller, Cornyn campaign senior adviser Matt Mackowiak said, "Crooked Ken Paxton may be the state's chief law enforcement officer, but every single day he demonstrates his intentional and indefensible failure to follow the law."
"With federal individual contribution limits of $3,500, it may be unprecedented for a candidate for U.S. Senate to have $650,000+ in potentially illegal contributions in one quarterly report, which totals nearly 1/4 of all money he raised in the quarter," Mackowiak said.
Polling shows that the targeted ad releases from Cornyn's allies are chipping away at Paxton's advantage in the Senate race.
A Texas Southern University poll published Tuesday found that Cornyn has trimmed Paxton's lead by nearly half in the past three months. In the most recent survey, Paxton had a 5 percentage point lead over Cornyn in a head-to-head matchup, while the May TSU survey found Paxton with a 9 percentage point lead over the incumbent senator.
Cornyn was leading Paxton, 30% to 29%, in an Emerson College poll released Friday, with a large share of voters still undecided.
Newsmax reached out to Paxton's campaign for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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