Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will defeat Sen. John Cornyn in the runoff for the Republican US Senate nomination in the Lone Star State, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, ending a bitter, expensive contest that divided the party and has given Democrats hope for the general election.
President Donald Trump’s late endorsement of Paxton proved pivotal, clarifying his preference for Republican voters after weeks of indecision. Paxton and Cornyn both campaigned hard for the president’s backing – Paxton at one point even gambling on a promise to consider dropping out of the race if the Senate abolished the filibuster to pass Trump’s voting bill.
But while Republican congressional leaders favored Cornyn as a stronger general election candidate, Trump’s choice was guided by his affinity for Paxton and his fraught personal relationship with the veteran incumbent senator – in particular Cornyn’s 2023 comment, since walked back, that Trump’s time “has passed him by.”
White House officials said Trump had been feeling emboldened after helping unseat Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and a group of Indiana state lawmakers earlier this month, amounting to a hot streak of political revenge.
The endorsement came too late, however, to avoid the prolonged runoff, during which Cornyn and his allies pummeled Paxton with about $23 million worth of brutal attack ads, highlighting the attorney general’s myriad brushes with scandal, and carving divisions within the party.
Now, bruised and drained from the most expensive US Senate primary on record – costing just under $130 million in total, according to AdImpact data – Paxton and Republicans will regroup for the general election matchup with Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, whose campaign has galvanized his party and fanned hopes of a breakthrough in the reliably red state.