Former Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd deemed President Donald Trump Democrats’ “best Senate campaign committee chair” during a conversation about Trump’s endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) over Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in the state’s U.S. Senate primary.

Hours before Paxton prevailed over Cornyn, Todd previewed the implications of such a result on CNN:

TODD: Well, I’ll say this: the best Senate campaign committee chair the Democrats have had the last 10 years has been Donald Trump, right? You know, they got the Senate in 2020 because of Donald Trump, and how he mismanaged the runoffs, and handed them the Senate. They held the Senate in 2022 because of Donald Trump, and his eye for talent, and people that he decides to endorse. And it looks like now he’s trying to take what is a Republican majority and make it as vulnerable in general

KASIE HUNT: Which realistically, should be a really tough year for-

TODD: In general, but he’s now making it harder. This is going to be Paxton being the nominee is going to cost somebody money. Is it Michael Whatley in North Carolina? Is it gonna cost John Husted money in Ohio? Is it gonna-, basically do they pull their their targeting of New Hampshire? I mean, the amount of money they’re gonna have to unload on Talarico — because this committee does not want to run a single ad promoting Ken Paxton — they haven’t done it yet! But they’re going to drop the anvil on Talarico.

DAVID AXELROD: He’s gonna find out what carnivores are!

TODD: And it may work. I’m with David, Democrats just may have a numbers problem at the end of the day in Texas where they, we know they can get to 48, because Beto O’Rourke got to 48. I don’t know if they can to 50% plus one and we’re going find out. But Donald Trump has put the Democrats in the game, and more importantly it then means, “Hey, you know they’re targeting Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Alaska,” — none of these are easy states but they’re much cheaper than Texas and Democrats can sort of-, Texas is a luxury, it is no longer a luxury for Republicans. And it’s that costliness that actually could help Democrats win the Senate in other states.

Watch above via CNN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!