The Ken Paxton survival strategy

The Daily Punch

Punchbowl News

Politics, Government, News

4.3 • 707 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The GOP establishment spent more than $60 million to kneecap Texas AG Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign, but it didn’t work. Jake breaks down how Paxton is surviving the cash dump against him in the primary. Plus, recent Capitol Police data is showing a major spike in threats toward members of Congress in 2025. Watch this episode on YouTube here! Punchbowl News is on YouTube⁠. ⁠Subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to our channel today to see all the new ways⁠⁠ ⁠we’re investing in video.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Want more in-depth daily coverage from Congress?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to our free Punchbowl News AM newsletter at punchbowl.news.⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Presented by Chevron.
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0:26.1	We put in the work because America depends on it.
0:29.0	Learn more at chevron.com slash America. Good morning. I'm Jake Sherman and welcome to The Daily Punch, brought to by Punch Bowl News.
0:45.7	It is Wednesday, February 18th, 2026. Let's get into the mix. Here are your Washington headlines of the day.
0:51.7	Number one, Ken Paxton is surviving a cash dump in his Texas Senate primary.
0:56.4	Number two, Capitol Police Threat Reports are only the tip of the iceberg.
1:00.6	And number three, in the vault, the great CFTC reversal on prediction markets.
1:06.6	Let's get into it.
1:07.6	Good morning, everybody.
1:09.0	The Senate Democrats sent back an offer on DHS yesterday. Remember, DHS is shut down. The White House basically said there wasn't much movement in that offer. And on the DHS shutdown goes, we have no idea whether it's going to end. It'll end at some point, but when it's going to end. It's Wednesday, less than a week until the State of the Union, a week from yesterday, I believe it is. There's a better chance than not that the shutdown is going on by the time of the State of the Union. I mean, I don't know how it'll take the Senate a while to get anything through. The House is not back until Monday. So, I mean, I don't see how they end the shutdown.
1:44.6	Before the State of the Union, I guess I could be surprised. Okay, let's talk about Ken Paxton.
1:49.0	Ali Mutnick is in Tyler, Texas. She's all over the state of Texas with some great coverage
1:54.1	that she will be peppering throughout our additions this week. This morning, the top is Ken Paxton.
1:59.5	Ken Paxton has been the subject of more than
2:03.1	$60 million of Republican establishment cash meant to kneecap him, and it didn't work.
2:09.0	Ken Paxton is in the same position that he was just months ago a couple weeks before the
	...

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