By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump endorsed Texas conservative hardliner Ken Paxton on Tuesday in his primary challenge of veteran Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn, supporting a scandal-plagued ally over a longtime incumbent in a key race ahead of November’s midterm elections.
The announcement comes a week before Paxton, who is Texas attorney general, and Cornyn compete in a runoff – three months after neither candidate surpassed 50% in a March 3 three-way primary.
“Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate,” Trump said online in an announcement seen as a likely death knell for Cornyn’s candidacy.
The winner will face Democratic state Representative James Talarico, a rising star and fundraising juggernaut who defeated U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett in March. The November election for the Senate seat comes as Republicans seek to defend a narrow majority in the chamber.
Paxton, who has a loyal following among conservative activists thanks to his stances on immigration and what he calls illegal voting, said in a post on X that he was honored to receive Trump’s endorsement.
While Paxton has won three statewide elections, most recently in 2022, he also faced a state impeachment effort by Republican lawmakers that failed, a securities fraud indictment and a messy divorce.
Cornyn has argued that nominating Paxton would put Texas in play for Democrats, and he said on Tuesday the decision is up to voters despite Trump’s endorsement of Paxton.
“It is now time for Texas Republican voters to decide if they want a strong nominee to help our GOP candidates down ballot and defeat Talarico in November, or a weak nominee who jeopardizes everything we care about,” Cornyn wrote. “I trust the Republican voters of Texas.”
Paxton has accused Cornyn of fear-mongering and said he is confident his track record as state attorney general will help him prevail in November should he win the primary.
Cornyn is widely seen as the stronger general election candidate, but he ran afoul of Trump in 2023 with comments like Republicans needed “a candidate who can actually win.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday that while Cornyn was a “good man” with whom he worked well, Cornyn was late to back Trump’s Republican presidential nomination.
Trump’s endorsement has proved powerful. In recent weeks he has been credited with helping oust Indiana state lawmakers who opposed mid-decade redistricting and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump after the January 6 insurrection.
Trump is also targeting Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, an independent-minded Republican who has repeatedly voted against the president and congressional leaders. Massie’s fate will be determined by voters on Tuesday.
TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT POWER ON DISPLAY
Even if Trump had endorsed Cornyn, it likely would not be enough to ensure his victory in the primary, polling by Texas Public Opinion Research in April found. Political experts say the Texas voters who traditionally turn out in Republican primaries and runoffs favor Paxton.
Cornyn has warned a Paxton primary victory would force Republicans to divert tens of millions of dollars from competitive Senate races to hold a seat in a state Trump won by nearly 14 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.
The victor of the runoff will face Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian who has explicitly appealed to independents and moderates in a state that has long been dominated by Republicans. Democrats haven’t won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.
The party has a narrow path to winning a Senate majority. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, meaning Democrats would need to net four seats to win control of the chamber. Their path includes defending Trump-won states Georgia and Michigan, as well as flipping competitive states such as Maine, North Carolina, Alaska and Ohio. A win in Texas would increase their pathways to a majority.
Maeve Coyle, a spokesperson for Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, said Democratic enthusiasm has surged while Republicans have drained their resources and fractured their base amid an ugly primary.
“Republicans are watching $100 million circle down the drain before their eyes as Donald Trump rejects their year of begging him to bail out John Cornyn,” she said.
(Reporting by Nolan McCaskill, Humeyra Pamuk, Ismail Shakil and Doina Chiacu; writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by David Ljunggren, Alistair Bell and Cynthia Osterman)
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