Jeff Rowe's desire to do this race because of how expensive it's going to be and how much money he's going to make could actually cost Republicans a Senate seat, perhaps in Texas. Welcome to the Powers That Be Daily, Puck's podcast focused on the intersection of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley, and Hollywood, and the players who run it all. I'm Peter Hamby. It's Tuesday, April 22nd. Today, I'm joined by Leanne Caldwell with a look at Republican infighting in Texas.
where the Senate primary between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton isn't the only showdown in the Lone Star State. Behind the scenes, Paxton's decision to hire longtime Republican consultant Jeff Rowe has irked the political shop at the White House, possibly even catching the eye of Donald Trump himself. Leanne explains why this personnel drama could have a big impact on next year's midterms.
Speaking of personnel, we also discuss how hard it is for Democratic operatives and lobbyists to earn a paycheck right now in Washington, D.C., which is fully Trump's town after last November's election. We'll discuss all that and much more on today's episode. Happy Tuesday everybody and welcome to The Powers That Be. I'm talking to Leanne Caldwell today.
About politics. What else would you be here for? We could talk about Wolfpack basketball, perhaps. You know. Hey, Leanne, I will see you in D.C. this week. I'm excited. Great. I feel like my enthusiasm did not come through last week, but it'll be great. For real. Sure. You wrote a great piece, a scoopy piece that I loved this week about some... people behind the scenes in this Ken Paxton, John Cornyn, Republican Senate primary that's evolving in Texas.
Beyond Paxton, who is a MAGA darling, I guess you could say, but even before MAGA was a conservative rising star in Texas, you've got John Cornyn, quote unquote, the establishment guy. already gone you know full bazooka on ken paxton this is going to be an ugly expensive primary but there is a fascinating wrinkle to this which is that Paxton hired Jeff Rowe as his you know, all purpose consultant for this campaign.
This is so funny, so interesting, because the White House... and Trump's former campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, as you write, do not like Jeff Rowe. Jeff Rowe did the Ron DeSantis primary. Jeff Rowe did Ted Cruz back in 2016. And look, long, successful career in statewide Republican politics before that. But it's caused some mixed emotions, some hurt feelings. Take us behind the scenes here. Why did this story grab you?
So, you know, it grabbed me because I'm going to kind of like step forward here and go into the future because The internal palace intrigue is super fascinating, and we can definitely get into it, but it's also the impact that this could have on this Texas Senate race. This is a lot more than just Trump people hating Jeff Rowe and the consulting firm that Ken Paxton hired. It has to do with this could jeopardize.
Ken Paxton's endorsement by Donald Trump, because that's how much Trump world hates Jeff Rowe. And so if Ken Paxton doesn't get Trump's endorsement, which is absolutely critical in this race against John Cornyn, there's a lot of dynamics there, too. It could really hurt his campaign. And there's a lot of Republicans around town that are freaking out that if Jeff Rose... desire to do this race because of how expensive it's going to be and how much money he's going to make could actually cost
Republicans, a Senate seat, perhaps in Texas. Oh, perhaps. We need Abby on for this one. This is the white whale for Democrats. Maybe they can win in Texas. No, but still, obviously, it is the cross currents behind the scenes are interesting. So you write that Roe has assured people that he received, this is from your story, received an indulgence from the White House to take the Paxton job because of Paxton's relationship.
with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, according to people familiar with his comment. But a person close to the White House rebuffed the claim. It's a, quote, classic Jeff statement. But it's not true, this person said. Quote, it's a flat-out lie. And then you also have a representative for Axiom, his strategy firm, deny that Roe has said any such thing. It does seem interesting that Paxton would hire Roe because where it was getting around...
D.C., around state capitals, that the White House wants to blackball Jeff Rowe. They just don't like him. Obviously, the Trump endorsement is a huge thing. But why would Paxton... Hire Jeff if this word was getting around, because I mean, even I was picking up murmurs about this.
in recent weeks. And this is the season. Tis the season for people to launch their primary campaigns for next year right now. It's just surprising to me. Because if anyone would know that Jeff Rowe was on the outs, it'd be Ken Paxton. Yeah, so there's a lot here. If you want me to stop talking and ask me a follow-up question, just interject because I might be talking too long. So Ken Paxton hired Jeff Rowe because Ken Paxton has hired Jeff Rowe in the past. Jeff Rowe's firm.
Axiom did work for him, including when he was being impeached by the Texas House of Representatives, which the Senate acquitted him. He had done work for Paxton and previous campaigns, too. So they have a relationship together. And Jeff Rowe knows Texas. He's Ted Cruz's guy. And so in that sense, it makes sense. The fact that Paxton was unable to read the room, though, is a whole different question that is causing people to assess Paxton's judgment.
But then it also, there's a lot of speculation. It also seems that Ken Paxton was kind of pushed into this a lot sooner than he was expecting to jump in the race. The announcement seemed very rushed. And it was also very coordinated because Jeff Rowe and Axiom... are, or Axiom is doing the race of John Bash, who is the guy who is running for Ken Paxton's attorney general seat. Axiom is going to get two races out of Ken Paxton running for Senate.
two big races. And so when Paxton, though, when he went to the White House to talk to the team to tell him he was going to do this, The interesting thing is he did not have an axiom representative with him. He went with his own personal office staff, which is what I'm told unheard of. You always have your consulting representatives with you in those meetings. And so he must have had some inkling of the toxicity of that, or Axiom knew the toxicity of that, and that's what he was advised.
And now I am told that Paxton, perhaps understanding the dynamics that he's entered, gotten himself into, is actually doing outreach to new firms. That's not good for Axiom. Look, Axiom is like, it's not just like you're a general consultant guy. Like you're a Svengali and you come in and you like stroke your chin and you're like, you should do some ads about this. Like they do mail, they do media buying, they do phones, they do fundraising. Like this is like a big.
firm that has you know a very big reach in republican politics that has you know gone back decades now and if if the white house has it out for them like this is going to be an ongoing issue in a bunch of states and the fact that you just said he might be looking for other consultants or teams is a big deal. Yeah. And I mean, like you said, I mean,
Jeff Rose business model is an interesting one, but it's one that makes him a lot of money. It's like one-stop shopping for candidates, which is convenient, but it also brings a lot of dollars. into Axiom. Something that turned people off about Jeff Rowe is, you know, he has a private jet. He's like kind of the ultimate stereotype of like a political operative. who makes a ton of money off these campaigns. And the reason you asked the question of why Paxton would hire Jeff Rowe or Axiom...
The reverse, why would Axiom take Ken Paxton, take on a very senior Senate Republican incumbent? And a big reason for that is because Axiom needs the money. They just laid off 10% of their staff. This blacklisting from the Trump White House, from the Trump political operation is really hurting their business. They're struggling to hire clients. And so this was a huge opportunity for Axiom to stay solvent, essentially, and to stay in business.
This is fascinating. I'm riveted by this Leanne. And the other thing, let's step back too, this primary generally between Cornyn.
and paxton will be incredible to watch you know we've seen so many battles for the soul of the republican party over the years especially in the trump era but you know paxton popular with the base maybe he doesn't get the trump endorsement but like john cordon is not to be slept on either uh you know he's made nice with president trump in recent years maybe there's some like
tarrant county harris county you know khaki wearing republican types who would like vote against ken paxton and for cornyn in this showdown i don't know i'm speculating but it's it's fascinating Yeah, it's weird. It's like, I mean, because everyone is freaked out now with Paxton in the race that John Cornyn can't win a primary. The base absolutely hates John Cornyn.
apparently, and they worry that Paxton can't win a general. That's how much he's hated in even Texas among general election voters. There's this poll that was leaked to the New York Times that showed Paxton beating Cornyn by like 25 points in the primary. But I talked to several people who saw the poll, the part of the poll that was not released.
And so that poll said that Paxton is essentially within the margin of error of a generic Democrat in a general election, which has Republicans, Senate Republican leadership, freaking out. The Texas Hills are alive with the sound of Beto. Beto! Or call them all red. Leanne, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, we are going to talk a little bit about Democrats.
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powers that be everybody i'm talking to leanne caldwell you can read her brilliant reporting in the best and the brightest leanne you're in dc i'm not um but you know i've got my dem friends my campaign friends who came back to dc after this cycle Some didn't, you know, after every cycle, when you lose, you do some soul searching.
You take some trips. I still see people that like Democrats I'm friends with on like Instagram stories and it's like they're still on vacation. Still traveling. Oh, yeah. They're doing like their eat, pray, love thing. Surfing, eating, whatever. But it is a hard time for the party out of power. to find gigs in DC. You've got the campaign committees, DTRIP, DGA, DSCC, like fine. But you've got fewer offices on Capitol Hill, all the like big lobbying shops and law firms.
They're oriented to whoever the president is. What's it like for Democrats on the professional side? In D.C. these days, am I over exaggerating? Like, are they just looking for jobs in state capitals for the next election cycle? Like if you are a twenty nine to thirty five year old Democrat looking for work. How's life going in the Beltway? Yeah, it's not great. But it's also not great for the more seasoned people. Democrats, too, the people who are more senior in their career.
You know, the entry level people seem to, I'm hearing, seem to kind of get some work, but it's like mid and senior level who are really struggling. Now, like, not everyone. Lots of people have found jobs. But you're the number of Democrats who I have met for like source meetings or coffees or whatever. have anecdotally told me how hard it is to go out into public, into like cafes and places because they see Democrats.
searching for jobs and the number of people who just are still in need of work, it seems. quite high, even more so since... the normal in transitions of power. A lot of it is there's firms that are kind of afraid to hire Democrats too. Not only do they not need them, But the Trump revenge factor is real. We see it playing out with big law in universities, etc. And so there is a fear of hiring especially prominent Democrats. And so, you know, it's kind of this trickle down effect.
that it's not good to be a Democrat in Washington right now. Yeah, you blurbed about this in your email last week, calling it Democrats Unemployment Line. I remember, though, when Trump won the first time, it was so... existentially jarring for everyone like republicans too like everyone in dc Yeah. And the weekend after he won in DC, like.
It was like overcast and gray, kind of empty. People weren't sure what to do. People weren't sure if like, you know, the world was going to, you know, end in a nuclear holocaust, you know, the day after Trump was sworn in. This time. You know, and I've been several times to D.C. since he's come back since he's victory, at least. What is your sense of like Democrats and how they just inhabit the city? Like it felt like in the first four years of Trump.
Democrats kind of didn't want to be around town. I could be making this up. This time it feels like, okay, like they're in power. It's not that big of a deal. It's hard to get work. harder to get work we know we're out of power it's not great but it feels like life goes on you know it's not like they're all moving to virginia that's where a lot of the republican consultants live anyway yeah Yeah, no, I think that's right. I think that's right. People are still...
Not so demoralized that they're at least not trying to look for work. So it's part of the pendulum that's swinging. So, so yeah, it does, it does definitely have a different feel than it did Trump, Trump 1.0. During his term, people were so depressed about the Trump Hotel and just, you know, all those things. It's still the Waldorf after he sold it. It's not the Trump Hotel anymore. But I will say like what's a major shift is after Trump's term ended in 2021.
It used to be, it was toxic to be a Republican in the Trump White House. Those were the people who couldn't find jobs, not because it was just the transition of power. No one wanted to touch those people. And as we all know, the comeback was aggressive and effective.
Yeah, no, I mean, I think in politics and political media, we were cursed by being obsessed with right now in the present. And, you know, even talking about this as a reminder that the, you know, politics has a tempo and a rhythm and. It's every two years and it's every four years and things can change.
There will be jobs for Democrats one of these days. But if not, you can always move to a hip state capital like Richmond or Austin, Sacramento. Just kidding. I shouldn't appreciate Sacramento. I love my Sacramento people. Thanks so much for listening to another episode of the powers that be as a reminder, the powers that be is the official podcast of puck. We'd like to thank Ben Landy.
Liz Goff, and Alex Bigler for their editorial and production guidance. If you like what you hear, please share with a friend. It really helps us keep delivering the inside scoop that only Puck can offer. Follow us on Twitter at Puck News. I'm Ben Landy. See you tomorrow.
this has been a presentation of odyssey please listen rate review and follow all episodes wherever you get your podcasts The Powers That Be Daily is executive produced by John Kelly, co-founder of Puck, Bob Tabador, and Ben Landy, executive editor at Puck.