Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he will protect Social Security and would not vote to cut benefits if elected to the U.S. Senate next month, a direct response to leaked audio in which he said cuts to mandatory federal spending were unavoidable to reduce the federal deficit. The Republican Senate candidate has repeatedly stated he would protect Social Security, insisting the program represents a promise that seniors paid into and earned.
Paxton Draws a Line Between Debt and Benefits
The pushback follows a leaked recording that Houston Public Media reported was published by the Texas Tribune the prior week, capturing Paxton telling private audiences that cuts to mandatory federal spending were necessary. Paxton framed the choice facing lawmakers as one between continuing to spend the country deeper into debt or finding a way to cut spending, according to the same report. He said the national debt has to be addressed while honoring promises made to those who contributed to the programs, adding that he has never said he would take entitlements away from people who earned them.
The audio in question was the fourth clip leaked from a September 24 private fundraiser with Washington lobbyists, according to The Texas Tribune, which first published the recording. In it, Paxton told attendees that “reasonable cuts to mandatory spending” were necessary to address the federal deficit, saying “we have to suck it up.” In a separate exchange from the same gathering, lobbyist Jeanne Haggerty told Paxton she wanted to pay less in taxes than she currently pays, and Paxton replied “I'm with you on that” as the room laughed, according to The Daily Beast. The same fundraiser had already produced an earlier leak in which Paxton admitted a September Republican convention in Dallas had hurt his polling numbers, a clip Hoodline previously reported on.
Talarico Presses His Tax Cap Plan
Paxton has accused his Democratic opponent, State Rep. James Talarico, of planning to raise taxes, per Houston Public Media's report. Talarico, in turn, argues that raising taxes on the wealthy is key to both saving Social Security and reducing the federal deficit, proposing to eliminate the Social Security payroll tax cap for individuals earning more than $400,000 a year. Under current law, the Social Security Administration set the 2026 maximum taxable earnings cap at $184,500, up from $176,100 in 2025 — meaning wages above that threshold are already exempt from the 6.2% payroll tax.
Nearly 5 million Texans receive Social Security old-age, disability or survivors' benefits, and close to 600,000 low-income residents receive Supplemental Security Income, according to Houston Public Media's reporting. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid together account for roughly three-quarters of mandatory federal spending in the most recent fiscal year, per the Congressional Budget Office figures cited in that report.
Retiree Advocates and a Former Official Sound Alarms
Reaction from advocacy groups was swift. Texas Alliance for Retired Americans President Gene Lantz issued a statement after the leak criticizing Paxton's remarks, arguing there is no “reasonable” amount to cut from Social Security checks or Medicare benefits that retirees depend on, according to The New Republic. A September survey by Navigator Research found that 89% of Democrats, 78% of independents and 53% of Republicans oppose cuts to mandatory spending programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, according to American Journal News.
Martin O'Malley, who served as Social Security commissioner under President Joe Biden, said the future of the program is in doubt, pointing to staffing at the Social Security Administration that has fallen to a 63-year low. He attributed the reductions to cuts enacted at the agency under President Donald Trump through Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, saying the staffing losses contribute to uncertainty about the program's future and could lead metro Texas field offices to turn visitors away, requiring appointments or online access instead. O'Malley said a human-caused crisis for Social Security is approaching within the next decade, and separately noted that the program faces a shortfall in its ability to pay 100% of recipients' benefits by 2032 — though he stressed that shortfall does not mean Social Security will go bankrupt or run totally dry that year. He pointed to the aftermath of lawmakers' 1983 overhaul, when the resulting surplus did not last as long as expected amid the anticipated wave of baby-boomer retirements, and said it will ultimately fall to U.S. senators to decide whether to strengthen, cut, privatize or eliminate the program.
A Dead-Heat Race With History on the Line
The fight over entitlement spending arrives as the Senate contest has turned into a true toss-up. An October 13 statewide poll by ReconMR showed Talarico leading Paxton 48% to 44% among likely Texas voters, while an October 8 UMass Lowell/YouGov poll had the two candidates tied at 45%. Paxton won the Republican nomination by defeating 20-year incumbent Sen. John Cornyn by 28 percentage points in the primary runoff, a result Hoodline covered in earlier coverage of the race.
A Democrat has not won a U.S. Senate election in Texas since 1988, nor any statewide office since 1994, according to the ReconMR polling data — a drought that makes the current margin notable regardless of which way it ultimately breaks. The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included an income tax deduction on qualified overtime compensation up to $12,500, is projected by Congressional Budget Office estimates to add more than $4 trillion to the national deficit over ten years, a backdrop both campaigns have invoked in arguing over the nation's fiscal path. Paxton has cited prior statements from September 1 and August 21 in making his case that his position on Social Security has not changed, with his most recent clarifying remarks coming September 28.
