President Donald Trump offered a blunt assessment of Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton, declaring Thursday that the state’s attorney general has the “ultimate qualification” for the job.
“We’re going to vote for you, and we’re going to make it a big win,” Trump told Paxton during a campaign stop in the Lone Star State.
Trump then defended his MAGA ally from a torrent of criticism in recent weeks.
“There was a lot of jealousy about Ken,” Trump said. “A lot of people were very jealous. There were a lot of bad things. They didn’t recognize the great job he did.”
Trump went on to call Paxton “maybe you’re the best attorney general in the whole United States of America” before making his eyebrow-raising assessment.
“That’s your only qualification for the job,” Trump said. “I’d say that’s a very good qualification. I think that’s the ultimate qualification.”
Trump endorsed Paxton over Texas’s longtime Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Republican primary, helping propel the MAGA attorney general into a competitive general election against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
Paxton has repeatedly aligned himself with Trump, including by suing the Biden administration over issues related to the 2024 election.
Trump, in Texas, on Thursday, called Paxton a “special man.”
“I’d be for Ken because he proved himself,” the president said.