Longtime Republican political operative Karl Rove said his party is being taken over by “Nazis” and sharply criticized U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton during an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival over the weekend.

The former George W. Bush White House deputy chief of staff claimed Republicans are headed for serious midterm setbacks as Democrats, including state Reps. James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa, surge in the polls. Rove said those polls appear accurate and that both Sen. Ted Cruz and Paxton had contacted him admitting they were behind.

Rove argued Paxton is struggling despite more than $100 million from the Senate Leadership Fund because of past scandals, including a messy public divorce and a bribery allegation in which staff reported him to the FBI. “If [U.S. Sen.] John Cornyn were the nominee, this race would be over,” Rove said. He went further, describing Paxton as having “multiple girlfriends and $200,000 worth of improvements in his house from a corrupt business guy whom he does favors.”

Rove also pledged to vote for Democrat Jon Rosenthal over Republican Bo French in the Texas Railroad Commissioner race, breaking with his decades-long pattern of supporting Republicans, calling French a “bigot.” The attack followed Rove’s Wall Street Journal op-ed criticizing French for a social media post about South Asian students at a University of Texas football game.

Rove claimed the party is being “infiltrated” by figures like French and far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes, whom he labeled a Nazi after Fuentes met with Republican leaders in Dallas. He criticized podcasters for “asking questions about the Jews” and said conservatives “didn’t labor in the wilderness to build a conservative party that was inclusive and welcoming … to see it taken over by a bunch of bigots.”

Rove's decision to support Rosenthal also puts him directly at odds with the Republican nominee in a race that will determine one of the three members of the Texas Railroad Commission, which oversees the state's massive oil and gas industry.

The remarks underscore the growing divide between Rove and the Republican Party's more populist wing. Rather than embracing the candidates who have gained influence among today's GOP base, Rove has increasingly positioned himself as a critic of that direction. His decision to openly criticize Paxton and support a Democrat in another Texas race also places the longtime Republican strategist at odds with his party's nominees heading into the 2026 election.