President Donald Trump is staying uncharacteristically on the sidelines for what will be one of the most contentious primaries of 2026 as voting kicks off in Texas.
Voters in the state began heading to the polls on Monday to cast ballots ahead of the primary, where there’s fierce competition among both Republicans and Democrats to become the Senate nominees.
Whoever clinches the nominations could end up in a high-stakes matchup come November, with the once deep-red Senate seat on the line. It’s perhaps why the usually boisterous president is avoiding getting into the fray.
Texas Attorney General and MAGA diehard Ken Paxton is running to unseat Senator John Cornyn, who has held the seat since 2002. Rep. Wesley Hunt is also running in the race.
Despite bringing a truckload of personal baggage to the race, Paxton has defied political norms, much like Trump, and has a slight edge in the primary against establishment candidate Cornyn, according to recent polls.
The University of Houston poll of likely Texas Republican primary voters last week showed him with 38 percent to Cornyn’s 31 percent. Hunt was polling at 17 percent.
Paxton, who has served as a top Texas law enforcement officer since 2015, has painted himself as a conservative defender of Texas values, running to take on the Washington establishment, but his personal life has become quite messy.
Paxton’s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce “on biblical grounds” last July, accusing her husband of adultery before asking the court to have the records sealed.
The move was challenged by a series of organizations and media groups, and despite the Paxtons’ fighting to keep them secret, the records were unsealed late last year. Further filings will be public, but the initial unsealing did not shed more light on Paxton’s alleged affair.
At the same time, Paxton was impeached by the GOP-led Texas House in 2023 on charges of bribery, abuse of public trust, and obstruction, but he was acquitted by the Texas Senate that September. He also cut a deal in 2024 to avoid standing trial on multiple felony fraud charges.
At the same time, Hunt is now accusing Cornyn’s team of doxxing after a staffer included his address in a now-deleted post that accused the congressman of voter fraud. A new version of the post redacted the information, but it led to both challengers teaming up to attack Cornyn in the final days before early voting began.
Where all three candidates have been on the same page is touting their ties to the president and trying to out-MAGA each other as images of them with Trump plaster their websites and social media.
Trump was asked about his endorsement plans in the three-way Texas GOP primary as he made his way back to Washington from Florida late on Monday.
“I just haven’t made a decision on that race yet. It’s got a ways to go, and I haven’t,” Trump told reporters despite voting getting underway. “I like all three of them.”
The president said all of them have supported him, so he supports all three.
But the Republican Senate campaign arm back in Washington is holding strong behind the four-term incumbent, calling Cornyn a dedicated conservative who has worked to secure Trump’s agenda.
“Ken Paxton and Wesley Hunt have repeatedly gone AWOL when President Trump needed them most,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Communications Director Joanna Rodriguez in a statement ahead of early voting.
Whoever wins the GOP primary will face the Democratic nominee in November, and both the NRSC and Democrats see Paxton as a weaker candidate in the general election.
According to a recent memo, the NRSC’s polling data showed Cornyn polling better than his challengers against Democratic rivals, state Rep. James Talarico and Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
The committee argued Texas cannot afford to gamble with the Senate seat in the midterms. But Trump-loving activist musician Ted Nugent and actor Randy Quaid are all in for Paxton.
The primary takes place on March 3. If no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote, the elections head to runoffs on May 26.
As the Texas primary heats up, the Democratic primary is also neck-and-neck in the final stretch. There have been few policy fireworks so far, but the race is already turning ugly as Crockett and Talarico battle it out, and identity politics has taken a prominent role.
Talarico, a member of the Texas House who has gone viral for moves like appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, has argued he can win tough races, but he’s come under fire this month.
Former Rep. Colin Allred, who was the Democratic Senate nominee in 2024, rebuked Talarico over an allegation that Talarico called him a “mediocre Black man” and endorsed Crockett. Talarico said his comment was mischaracterized, and he was not talking about Allred as a person.
Crockett, who has represented the state’s 30th congressional district since 2023, has been a rising star nationally in the Democratic Party for taking on Trump and MAGA Republicans.
Both Democratic candidates have shown strong fundraising totals for their primary races and would be formidable in raising money for the general election, but a Democrat has not won Texas statewide since 1994.
