Texas Attorney General and Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton privately admitted that Donald Trump’s midterm convention in Dallas hurt Republican candidates.

At a private fundraiser in Washington last week, Paxton blamed Trump for Republican candidates’ sagging poll numbers after the convention, according to a recording shared with The New York Times.

“Do you feel like he’s a little bit of a drag?” Paxton is asked in the clip.

“So to be honest with you, the numbers—when we did that convention—it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good,” Paxton said.

In a closing-night convention speech, Trump gave a bizarre pitch for Paxton, telling attendees that he doesn’t “like the way Ken dresses,” “talks,” or “looks,” but that the Senate hopeful is “the greatest” attorney general in the country.

“I don’t know if he’s going to ever speak to me again, but you know, I don’t care as long as he wins,” Trump said. “I don’t have to speak to him. He’s going to vote the way we would vote. … You got to vote for him.”

An attendee at the fundraiser gave the audio of Paxton trashing Trump’s convention to The Times. The source wished to remain anonymous but said he opposes Paxton’s candidacy.

Nick Maddux, a senior Paxton adviser, dismissed the recording as “more manipulated nonsense from The New York Times to create a story that doesn’t exist.”

The Republican midterm convention in Dallas earlier this month was supposed to energize Trump’s base, but it appears to have had the opposite effect.

The Generic Congressional Vote showed a rise in support for Democrats after the convention, while Republicans’ support stayed about the same, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.

Trump endorsed Paxton over incumbent Republican senator John Cornyn in the Texas primary despite objections from mainstream Republicans. They worried Paxton’s many scandals would plague him in the general election and put what should be a safe Republican Senate seat in play.

Turns out they were right.

Even with a Trump endorsement, Paxton continues to struggle to raise money and is trailing Democratic challenger James Talarico in several polls.