🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — Texas Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton privately said the Iran war and high gas and diesel prices were hurting his campaign, telling donors at a closed-door fundraiser that affordability was “by far our biggest problem,” Axios reports.

Asked what was “dragging” on his campaign, Paxton pointed to “the war, it’s gas prices, it’s diesel,” saying fuel costs above $6 per gallon were driving up food and other prices.

Paxton, who is one of Trump’s most loyal allies, acknowledged he has “no control over gas prices” and said, “I don’t make the decisions.”