Texas Republican Ken Paxton practically served his Democratic challenger opposition material on a silver platter while defending his colored reputation during a Sunday morning appearance on Fox News.

Paxton, President Donald Trump’s choice for the Lone Star State’s 2026 Senate race, couldn’t have picked a worse comparison when “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo asked what he was going to do about being called “scandal-plagued” in a recent opinion piece published by the Wall Street Journal.

Claiming any controversies were concocted up by anti-Trump Republicans, he told voters, “I get why they said that, but the reality is they could say the same thing about Donald Trump” — the White House’s chaos agent-in-chief, a convicted felon and alleged associate of prolific sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

“When you’re fighting the fight, unfortunately, you get attacked, and you have to defend yourself,” Paxton went on. “And when you do that, and ... they’re not successful, they still accuse you of things.”

“Accusations don’t mean that the thing actually happened. They have to prove these things in our country. That they didn’t do with President Trump and that they didn’t do with me, and yet they continue to act like something bad happened when they have no proof of it.”

Penned by former President George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove, the Wall Street Journal story in question was titled “The GOP’s Five Paxton Problems.”

BARTIROMO: What are you going to do about your perception? The Wall Street Journal describes you as 'scandal plagued'PAXTON: The reality is they could say the same thing about Donald Trump pic.twitter.com/moW71KlLrx

According to Rove, who Trump once called a “RINO of the highest order,” Paxton has been accused of “corruption, bribery, obstruction, securities fraud, multiple mistresses and incompetent handling of sex-trafficking cases.”

The accusations had enough merit to get the former Texas attorney general impeached by the Republican-run state House in 2023, but he was narrowly acquitted by the Senate.

Rove warned that Paxton’s baggage has the possibility of dragging down the entire GOP ticket come November, claiming, “Every Texas Republican running for Congress, statewide office or the Texas Legislature could be asked about his scandals.”

With the help of a coveted Trump endorsement delivered just seven days before the primaries, Paxton pummeled incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) 64% to 36% last week.

But Rove also pointed to Paxton’s poll numbers prior to the president’s 11th-hour support as a sign he’ll have an uphill battle in the general election against State Senator James Talarico.

According to the political strategist, just 81% of primary voters knew who Paxton was and out of those, only 35% said they would be more likely to vote for him than Coryn.

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