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President Donald Trump took to social media Thursday to blast U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and GOP stalwart Karl Rove for doing “everything possible to make it hard” for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to win his U.S. Senate election.
Trump said in a Truth Social post that Rove and Cornyn, who lost a contentious and expensive primary runoff to Paxton in May, “should be ashamed of themselves” for their lack of support for Paxton.
“If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career,” Trump wrote.
Trump encouraged GOP voters who previously backed Cornyn to unite and “immediately switch” support over to Paxton. The president also insulted Paxton’s Democratic opponent, Texas Rep. James Talarico, for being the “antithesis of Texas values.”
Talarico has made a concerted effort to sway moderate and undecided Texans — including Cornyn’s primary voters — throughout his campaign. During a CNN town hall Wednesday night, the Austin Democrat pushed back on his party’s record on border security while criticizing the Trump administration’s “corruption” and misuse of federal immigration enforcement.
Cornyn, a prolific political fundraiser, has not endorsed Paxton and in August told The Texas Tribune that he would not be moving money toward Paxton’s campaign. He also described Paxton as lazy and a “poor campaigner.”
Rove, a former adviser to President George W. Bush, has not said whether he will vote for Paxton. In a discussion during the Texas Tribune Festival in September, Rove said the U.S. Senate race in Texas “would be over” if Cornyn had defeated Paxton in the primary. He also pointed to allegations that were part of Paxton’s 2023 impeachment trial that ended in acquittal by the Texas Senate.
“You got a guy who’s got multiple girlfriends, $200,000 worth of improvements in his house from a corrupt business guy for whom he does favors … and now it’s in the court of public opinion,” Rove said. “If this were not out there, this would be a normal Republican versus Democrat.”
Rove and Cornyn have committed to breaking party ranks in a separate election for Texas railroad commissioner. Both cited racist comments made by Republican candidate Bo French, with Rove saying he’d vote for the Democratic candidate, Texas Rep. Jon Rosenthal, and Cornyn stating he may leave his ballot blank for that race.
Trump’s comments come with early voting to begin Oct. 19th and with polls consistently showing the Democrat with single-digit leads over Paxton, a rarity in statewide races that Republicans have dominated for three decades.