Attendees pray during AmericaFest, the first Turning Point USA summit since the death of Charlie Kirk, in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. December 20, 2025. REUTERS
After facing a devastating ad searing President Donald Trump and Republican Party corruption former Trump Communicationsdirector Bryan Lanza said he had low hopes for Republican victory in the upcoming midterms.
“We’ve got a week left and we’re forced to talk about Mississippi,” said Lanza, speaking Thursday with CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “I've been in politics for nearly 30 years. I don't think we've ever talked about Mississippi in a general election. And here's where we are.”
One ad targeting the corruption of Texas senatorial candidate Ken Paxton was particularly brutal.
“I truly believe that [GOP senatorial candidate Ken Paxton] is the most corrupt politician Texas has ever seen,” said Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, a GOP veteran supporting the Democrat in that race.
“Ken Paxton is just far too corrupt for Texas,” said former Texas Congressman Alan Steeman, another Republican.
“You know where ken Paxton has been,” said former Ennis Mayor Russell Thomas, another seasoned Republican. “Ken Paxton has been in court. He's been impeached by his own party.”
“Listen, I've been worried for months,” said Lanza, speaking on the anchor of corruption haunting the Republican Party and the lightning rod for corruption that is Paxton’s record. “I mean, we had this race locked up with Senator Cornyn. I think without any question, he would have run away with this race. There'd be enthusiasm. We wouldn't be spending all this money. I think it's going to be on the republican side it's going to be close to half $1 billion. So yeah, we're worried. I'm worried.”
Still addressing the specter of corruption that haunts the party two years after Trump re-captured the White House and nearly a decade of Paxton collecting one political car wreck after another, Lanza said he “wouldn't be surprised if we wake up Wednesday morning and find out that we lost the Texas seat.”
“And that's a that's a tough thing for us to swallow,” Lanza told Tapper. “But it also, you know, the good thing about Elections Day is the next day you get to plan for the next election. So, we'll be busy on Wednesday and Thursday.”
As far back as 2022, whistleblowers who sued Paxton after he fired them for accusing him of bribery and abuse of office were speaking out against him publicly for what they say are Paxton’s “numerous false and misleading public statements” on the campaign trail.
Eventually Paxton was impeached for his transgressions, but was spared by the Republican Senate Texas majority.
But Lanza said “there's not a tremendous amount of enthusiasm in Mississippi for the republican candidate,” either or the party’s candidate in Kansas.