ICYMI: Ken Paxton laughs while he proposes defunding Social Security in latest leaked audio clip [San Antonio Current]
AUSTIN, TX — Corrupt Ken Paxton is under fire after, with the San Antonio Current reporting how Paxton reversed his previous comments to them, after he was caught laughing “while he proposes defunding Social Security in [the] latest leaked audio clip.”
Paxton told Big Pharma lobbyists he wanted to give them bigger tax breaks, after threatening cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The Current noted how “Paxton’s stance in the audio recording differs sharply from a statement his campaign gave the Current in August.” Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, didn’t mince words: “Ken Paxton is a sick man who thinks it’s a joke to push over a million Texans into poverty by stealing their hard-earned benefits.”
Read more for yourself:
San Antonio Current: Ken Paxton laughs while he proposes defunding Social Security in latest leaked audio clip
October 8, 2026
By Michael Karlis
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign seems to have a hot mic problem.
On Thursday, another leaked audio recording of the Republican U.S. Senate candidate surfaced, this one capturing remarks that appear to contradict his campaign’s earlier position that he wouldn’t cut Social Security.
In the clip, Paxton is heard talking with D.C. lobbyists about slashing “mandatory spending,” a category of federal expenditures that includes Social Security along with Medicare and Medicaid.
“Making some reasonable cuts to mandatory spending — you’re gonna have to do it,” Paxton said in the recording obtained by the Texas Tribune. “Or there is no solution. That’s just the reality. We have to suck it up. And we, from Republican presidents to Democrats, we’ve been spending like crazy. And no one seems to care. And it’s gonna bankrupt us. It’s just a matter of time.”
Paxton is then heard laughing alongside D.C. lobbyist Jeanne Haggerty, who was joking about paying too much in taxes.
“I would really like to pay my fair share of taxes, which is less than I’m paying right now,” Haggerty says as Paxton chuckles.
Paxton’s stance in the audio recording differs sharply from a statement his campaign gave the Current in August. At that time, the campaign’s deputy communications manager, Noah Jennings, said his boss was against any cuts to Social Security.
One person who didn’t find Paxton’s audio recording worth a chuckle is Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, a political group that campaigns to protect retirees’ Social Security benefits.
“This is a sick man who thinks it’s a joke to push over a million Texans into poverty by stealing their hard-earned benefits,” Lawson said. “This is a man who should not be allowed anywhere near the levers of power, since clearly he thinks working people are a joke to be laughed at with the billionaire donors he works for.”
The leaked audio is the latest headache for Paxton, who is in a virtual tie with his Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico.
###
