Conservative leadership candidate Andrew Saxton says he’s staying in the race until the end – and that rival candidates’ phone calls urging him to give up now have become “aggressive.”

“Other candidates are still trying to get me out of the race, but for very different reasons now,” Saxton’s campaign wrote in a release sent to reporters Wednesday afternoon.

“Surging support for Saxton has shifted the tone of his rival candidates’ phone calls from friendly to aggressive.”

Saxton, who has consistently polled at less than two per cent in the CPC race, wrote that the success of his grassroots tour has led to new momentum in the final weeks of the campaign.

“Three weeks ago, I was getting three or four calls a day from other campaigns, trying to convince me to drop out,” said Saxton in the release.

“But their tone has shifted from friendly to a little aggressive. I think they’re seeing from their own polls that I’m picking up a lot of support in small towns across the country.”

Saxton began a 40-day tour nearly two weeks ago and his campaign says he believes other campaigns see he’s “picking up a lot of support in small towns.”

“Saxton believes that the internal polling of other campaigns is showing how much momentum he is gathering,” the release said.

He said party members show up to meet him with binders and spreadsheets, ranking candidates according their priorities. He said his small town tour is boosting his own campaign, but it’s clearly affecting other campaigns as well.