肯·帕克斯顿距离华盛顿特区结束还有不到一个月的时间-竞选德克萨斯州美国参议院席位的局外人，他私下承认该席位由华盛顿管理。
Ken Paxton is less than a month out from the conclusion of a D.C.-outsider campaign for a Texas U.S. Senate seat that he privately admitted is being run by Washington.
“我从来没有参加过一场让我对竞选活动的控制力减弱的竞选，比如，什么问题才重要，因为这一切都来自华盛顿特区，”根据POLITICO从房间里一名不支持帕克斯顿的人那里获得的录音，帕克斯顿在上个月的一次小型筹款活动中说道，并得到了另一位与会者的证实。
“I’ve never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign and, like, what issues are going to matter because it’s all coming — you know — from D.C.,” Paxton said during a small fundraising event last month, according to an audio recording obtained by POLITICO from a person in the room who does not support Paxton, and verified by another attendee.
“我无法控制信息或我们正在做的事情。”午餐于9月举行。华盛顿特区的克里斯·布林森（Chris Brinson）和苏珊·赫希曼（Susan Hirschmann）24日报道-总部位于游说公司Williams & Jensen的约有十几人参加，其中包括国防承包商BWXT政府关系副总裁Scott Kopple。
“I don’t control message or what we’re doing.”The lunch, hosted Sept. 24 in Washington by Chris Brinson and Susan Hirschmann of the D.C.-based lobbying firm Williams & Jensen, was attended by about a dozen people including Scott Kopple, VP of government relations at defense contractor BWXT.
“德克萨斯州是一个大州，其中一些问题显然与真实的人产生共鸣-我会打电话给真实的人-你知道，就像在家里一样，”Kopple没有回应置评请求，他对房间里的一些笑声说。“我知道你需要钱来传达信息之类的，但这些东西怎么翻译呢？”
“Texas is a big state, and some of these issues obviously resonate with real — I’ll call real people — you know, like back home,” Kopple, who did not respond to a request for comment, said to some chuckles in the room. “I know you need money to get the message out and stuff, but how does this stuff translate?”
帕克斯顿回答说：“我想念那些我可以去的日子，和所有的人在一起。但是我们有3200万人，所以假设在接下来的40天里，我每天面对1,000人--我没有--那就是4万人。100万到1040万人将投票。”
Paxton replied saying: “I miss the days when I could go to, get around with all the people. But we have 32 million people, so let’s just say for the next 40 days I’m in front of 1,000 people a day — which I’m not — and that’s 40,000 people. Ten to 10.4 million people are gonna vote.”
“但归根结底，这取决于你的信息，”他继续说道，“在联邦竞选中，这些信息很多时候来自其他人，而你无法控制。”一位不愿透露姓名的讨论这次私人会议的与会者表示，帕克斯顿从未明确表示他指的是特朗普的团队控制着他的竞选活动，但“每个人都知道他在说什么”。该人士表示，帕克斯顿发表上述言论之际，人们正在对国家政治环境进行更广泛的讨论。
“But then it comes down to your messaging,” he continued, “which in a federal race comes from other people a lot of times, which you don’t control.”One attendee granted anonymity to discuss the private meeting said that Paxton never explicitly said he was referring to Trump’s team controlling his campaign, but “everybody knew what he was talking about.”The person said Paxton’s comments came amid a broader discussion about the national political environment.
“我没有能力改变任何事情，”帕克斯顿继续说道，“所以我必须接受我所拥有的一切。所以这是一个挑战。”
“I don’t have ability to change anything,” Paxton went on. “So I have to live with whatever I’ve got. So it is a challenge.”
帕克斯顿竞选顾问尼克·马杜克斯在给政治局的一份声明中表示：“竞选活动不与超级PAC协调，这显然就是AG帕克斯顿所指的。”“帕克斯顿总检察长感谢人们的支持，他知道德克萨斯州对保持多数席位有多么重要，这就是为什么他每天都在实地与德克萨斯州交谈，筹集资金，并将他的信息直接传达给人民，包括他在全州范围内购买电视节目。从上周末开始。”赫希曼和布林森都没有回复记者的置评请求。
Paxton campaign adviser Nick Maddux said, “Campaigns don’t coordinate with super PACS and that’s obviously what AG Paxton was referring to,” in a statement to POLITICO. “AG Paxton is thankful for the support and knows how important Texas is to keeping the majority which is why he’s on the ground every day talking to Texas, raising money, and taking his message directly to the people including with his statewide television buy that started over this past weekend.”Neither Hirschmann nor Brinson responded to a request for comment.
在《纽约时报》获得的同一次会议的录音中，帕克斯顿告诉与会者，特朗普上个月在得克萨斯州主持的中期大会“降低了我们的人数。每个人的数字都下降了。现在，是的，不太好。”马杜克斯将这篇文章描述为“被操纵的废话”。Playbook尚未听到长达一小时的会议剩余内容。
In an audio recording of the same meeting obtained by The New York Times, Paxton told attendees the midterm convention hosted by Trump in Texas last month “dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”Maddux described the article as “manipulated nonsense.”Playbook hasn’t heard the contents of the rest of the hourlong meeting.
《纽约时报》/锡耶纳的最新民意调查显示，帕克斯顿落后民主党挑战者詹姆斯·塔拉里科6个百分点。
The most recent New York Times/Siena poll has Paxton running 6 points behind Democratic challenger James Talarico.
私下发表评论之前，共和党现任议员约翰·科宁（John Cornyn）发起了激烈的初选竞选活动，帕克斯顿将他定性为“华盛顿内部人士”和“RINO”，同时公开与特朗普结盟。
The private comments follow a bitter primary campaign waged against Republican incumbent John Cornyn, whom Paxton framed as a “Washington insider” and “RINO” while publicly aligning himself with Trump.
据美联社报道，帕克斯顿在初选前在德克萨斯州竞选时谈到科宁时说道：“他的钱来自华盛顿特区的建制派。”“这就是他们总是试图用他们的钱说服我们华盛顿的人的方式。好吧，我不是他们的人，我永远也不会成为他们的人。”帕克斯顿在11月份保持现金优势，并于上个月宣布斥资2000万美元购买广告。参议院领导基金是一个与参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩密切合作的共和党顶级超级政治行动委员会，该基金于9月初承诺提供数百万美元支持帕克斯顿。
“His money is coming from the D.C. establishment,” Paxton said of Cornyn while campaigning in Texas before the primary, the AP reported. “That’s how they always try to convince us from Washington with their money that we should select their person. Well, I’m not their person and I’m never going to be their person.”Paxton maintains a cash advantage heading into November and announced a $20 million ad buy last month. The Senate Leadership Fund, a top GOP super political action committee closely aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, pledged millions to back Paxton earlier in September.
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