Why 🐵 UnitedStatesNews-NoOpEd picked: Paxton admits Trump’s Iran war and US gas prices are plaguing Republicans in leaked audio

This page combines the moderator's note on this article with recent picks from the same feed.

Source: theguardian.com

<p>Texas attorney general acknowledged affordability was his party’s ‘biggest problem’ heading into the midterms</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/oct/06/donald-trump-ads-diesel-baltimore-midterms-media-latest-news-updates" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">US politics live – latest updates</a></p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/05/ken-paxton-texas-senate-campaign-control" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general </a>running as the Republican candidate in a competitive Senate race, admitted privately that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/06/trump-federal-gas-tax" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">rising fuel prices</a> as a result of Donald Trump’s Iran war were hurting his party before the midterms in the latest leaked audio recording.</p><p>Asked what issues were “dragging” his campaign at a closed-door fundraising event, Paxton replied, “It’s not tariffs … it’s the war, it’s gas prices, it’s diesel,” according to an audio recording <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/10/07/ken-paxton-iran-war-gas-prices-audio-trump-texas" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">shared with Axios.</a></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/07/ken-paxton-trumps-iran-war-gas-prices-republicans" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer ugc" target="_blank">Continue reading...</a>