President Donald Trump announced he was endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ahead of the Senate runoff in one week and delivered a brutal humiliation for Sen. John Cornyn in what has already been an ugly primary.
The president’s Truth Social post backing the Trumpy candidate came months after the president originally promised he would make an endorsement and called on whoever he hadn’t picked to drop out.
As the president delayed a decision, millions were spent on what has already been an extremely nasty primary between Paxton and Cornyn, who repeatedly sucked up to Trump in hopes of securing his endorsement.
Initial reports after Trump said he would make an endorsement in the wake of the early March primary were that the president would back Cornyn. However, Trump held off on weighing in as he promised, as polling showed Paxton ahead of Cornyn, and the state attorney general indicated he would remain in the race even if Trump went the other way.
In the end, the president announced his endorsement in a Truth Social post, one week before the May 26 runoff.
“The Highly Respected Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, an America First Patriot, and someone who has always been extremely loyal to me and our AMAZING MAGA MOVEMENT, is running for the United States Senate, to represent a place I love and WON, BIG, three times, with 6.4 Million Votes in 2024 (The Most Votes in the History of the State, BY FAR)!” Trump wrote.
“I know Ken well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a WINNER! Ken is a Strong Supporter of TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER and, very importantly, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, something which polls at 87%, including Dumocrats, and yet can’t seem to get approved,” he went on.
Trump’s comments about the filibuster were another humiliation for Cornyn, who had reversed himself by suddenly backing the end of the Senate filibuster ahead of the runoff after opposing killing the Senate procedural rule for years.
Trump called Cornyn a “good man” who worked with the president on multiple issues, but he blasted him for being “very late in backing me in what turned out to be a Historic Run for the Republican Nomination, and then, the Presidency, itself, both of which were Landslide Victories.”
The president’s endorsement came as the GOP Senate campaign arm spent millions to help Cornyn in the race and warned that Paxton, as the nominee, was more likely to make the Texas Senate seat vulnerable to Democrats flipping it blue.
More than $18 million has already been spent to support Cornyn in the runoff alone, while just under $5 million was spent to support Paxton, according to tracking by AdImpact, after the Texas Senate primary was the most expensive Senate primary in U.S. history. $88 million alone was spent in the GOP primary.
The Texas attorney general came into the race with a load of baggage, including allegations of infidelity by his own wife when she filed for divorce, and being impeached by the Texas House on bribery allegations in 2023 before being acquitted in the state Senate. He also faced a Justice Department corruption probe after his own deputies accused him of abusing his office, but the investigation was later closed.
Trump’s endorsement all but seals the deal for Paxton to be the Senate nominee in Texas to go up against the Democratic nominee and Texas House Rep. James Talarico, who has received record fundraising and went viral with appearances on national television and podcasts.
Earlier this month, former President Barack Obama hit the campaign trail early with Talarico, 37, as Democrats set their sights on turning Texas blue.
Democrats have pushed to flip the massive state several times in recent cycles, only to come up short. It’s been more than 30 years since a Democrat won a statewide race in Texas. Democrats have not won a Senate race there since 1988, but they’ve been arguing that going up against Paxton puts them in the best position to do so come November.
A new Texas Southern University poll showed a race between Talarico and Paxton tied, while Cornyn beat Talarico by one point in the general election in the separate hypothetical matchups.
“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,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Maeve Coyle in a statement after Trump’s endorsement. “While the Texas GOP has been embroiled in a ‘bitter,’ ‘costly intraparty war’ that has fractured their base and left them drained of resources, Democratic enthusiasm has surged to its highest level in decades.”
