Karl Rove Predicts Ken Paxton ‘Loses’ Election if He Doesn’t Debate James Talarico

Republican strategist Karl Rove said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) must debate State Rep. James Talarico (D), because if he doesn’t, he might as well drop out of the race right now.

“If he doesn’t debate, I think he loses,” Rove said. “If he debates, the question is, is he going to be able to go on the offense?”

Rove shared his prediction during a Tuesday conversation with Democratic strategist David Axelrod at The Economic Club of Chicago. The man who helped make Barack Obama president said he doesn’t think Paxton will do it.

“There’s a reason he hasn’t debated in 16 years. He’s not adroit,” Axelrod said.

His math was a bit off, though: Paxton’s last debate was in 2014, when he was elected the Lone Star State’s AG. Axelrod then got some chuckles from the crowd when he said he’d pay to see the two Senate candidates debate. Rove then said whether or not Paxton is a skilled politician should have nothing to do with whether or not he debates Talarico.

“You don’t need to be adroit in this,” Rove said. “The question is, does he have the guts to do it?”

Axelrod and Rove discussed the Texas Senate race a day before leaked audio of Paxton dissing President Donald Trump’s first-ever Republican midterm convention emerged.

“To be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers,” Paxton was heard in the audio clip obtained by The New York Times. “Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”

As for a potential debate, Paxton’s senior adviser Nick Maddux said the attorney general would “of course” debate Talarico back in July. But so far, no debate has happened or been scheduled.

The Dallas Observer reported this week Paxton’s team has “consistently turned down offers from local TV stations and recently stopped communicating with [ABC 8 in Dallas] after weeks of discussion on a proposed debate”; the report added Paxton’s team declined a proposed CNN debate, which a Paxton spokesperson said would be a “CCP-style struggle session.”

Recently, Talarico has been challenging Paxton to meet him for a debate on Fox News; a network spokesperson confirmed Fox would be willing to host such a debate “if both candidates commit to appearing.”

Watch above.

Jason Cohen contributed to this story.

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