Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who's running for Senate, clammed up when he was asked about his state's THC ban.
In a clip posted on Saturday, he was asked by a young man, who didn't appear to be trying to confront Paxton, what he thought about Texas' marijuana ban. President Donald Trump notably endorsed Paxton, who has the Republican nomination for the Senate.
"Uhm. I don't know the details of it," Paxton said. "Let's talk later," he said before turning and bolting from the young man.
Journalist Aaron Rupar noted that Paxton is currently being sued after trying to enforce Texas' ban to the maximum extent possible, "so this is a lie!" Podcaster Joe Rogan also called out Texas Republicans earlier this week for going after marijuana and said it would hurt Paxton's chances of beating James Talarico in the Senate race.
"Kids will turn on you if you tell them they can't smoke weed," Rogan said. "You will f— this place up, and you will turn the whole thing blue."
Similarly, other online reactions called out Paxton for his response in light of his record and embattled Senate campaign.
"Ken Paxton's office has been responsible for litigating every hemp lawsuit since 2019 and currently ongoing," wrote the Texas Cannabis Collective, an advocacy group, in a reaction on X. "He also sued five Texas cities who locally decriminalized marijuana possession through ballot referendum, overturning hundreds of thousands of Texas votes. Ken Paxton's record on cannabis is absolutely abysmal. With this resume, we'd run away from this question too!"
"Uhhh...you don't know the details of a law in the state where you are in charge of enforcing the laws?" asked Sara McGee, a Democratic nominee for a House seat in Texas. "And this particular law is currently involved in litigation involving YOUR office. Y'all."
"Sounds like an awful Attorney General who would be an awful senator," wrote Russell Foster, a former Democratic congressional candidate from Texas. "We don't need that level of lying or stupidity in Congress. If he lies about something as simple as this, can we trust him at all?"