With early voting already underway, President Donald Trump threw his last-minute endorsement in Texas’ U.S. Senate race to state Attorney General Ken Paxton — a damaging blow to incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who’s groveled for months to win the president’s backing.
“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 in the endorsement posted Tuesday on Truth Social.
Paxton and Cornyn are locked in a pricey and combative May 26 runoff for the Republican nomination.
State Rep. James Talarico of Austin, who won the race’s Democratic nomination in March, said he’s unconcerned about the president’s endorsement.
“As I said on primary night, it doesn’t matter who wins this runoff,” Talarico’s campaign said in a statement. “We already know who we’re running against: the billionaire mega-donors and their corrupt political system.”
Trump’s endorsement of Paxton comes after Cornyn spent roughly a year trying to secure the president’s backing.
Among other fawning behavior, the senator staged photos of himself reading Trump’s Art of the Deal and eating at Houston’s since-rebranded Trump Burger. Cornyn also flip-flopped to support ending the filibuster — a change to Senate rules he vehemently opposed until Trump demanded that it be thrown out.
Despite his apparent desperation to win Trump’s seal of approval, Cornyn told reporters Tuesday morning that he didn’t think the president’s snub would hurt him in the race.
“I think that ship has finally sailed,” Cornyn said, according to a tweet by Austin-American-Statesman reporter John Moritz.
Even so, Trump’s endorsement of Paxton could give the MAGA-adherent AG the nudge needed to defeat Cornyn on May 26. The most recent polling from the University of Houston, released last week, placed the two Republicans in a statistical tie.
However, if Paxton secures the nomination, he faces a greater challenge from Talarico in the general, according to polling from Texas Southern University released this week.
Cornyn has a single-point lead over Talarico in a head-to-head matchup, that poll shows. Meanwhile, Talarico and Paxton are tied at 45% each.
Political observers largely consider Paxton a weaker general election candidate than Cornyn because of the AG’s long history of scandals, including a securities-fraud indictment, a near impeachment by the Texas Legislature and multiple allegations of marital infidelity.
Early voting in the primary continues through May 22. Polls will reopen again on May 26.
The Bexar County Election’s Department’s website has polling times and locations.
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