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Sen. John Cornyn and\u00a0Attorney General Ken\u00a0Paxton, rivals in the Republican Senate runoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sara Diggins, Smiley Pool\/Austin American Statesman, Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
The final stretch of the Senate runoff between Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton has curdled into a sour political feud, marked by adultery attacks, corruption accusations and competing claims over who truly represents today\u2019s Texas Republicans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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As early voting begins Monday ahead of the May 26 runoff, the clash has deepened a split inside the party between pro-business conservatism and MAGA-style confrontation. That\u2019s alarmed some Republicans<\/a> who fear the bitterness could outlast Election Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Even so, both sides are airing sharper TV ads and working aggressively to turn out supporters. \u00a0<\/p>\n Cornyn has a voter event Sunday at a barbecue restaurant in The Colony with GOP state Reps. Matt Shaheen of Prosper and Jeff Leach of Allen, and Paxton begins a seven-city swing Monday with a rally at a Dallas restaurant.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the candidates embracing many of the same conservative priorities, the race has grown increasingly personal in recent days.\u00a0<\/p>\n Make Dallas News a preferred source so your search results prioritize writing by actual people, not AI.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Cornyn has called Paxton unfit for office. On social media, he said Paxton has \u201crepeatedly lied to Texans, his leadership team and his own family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cCharacter still matters,\u201d Cornyn told The Dallas Morning News. \u201cKen Paxton’s lack of good moral character is very well documented.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Paxton, meanwhile, has slammed Cornyn as an out-of-touch Washington fixture.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s let John run in Rhode Island,\u201d Paxton said during an event in Grapevine. \u201cHe\u2019s had his chance. It\u2019s time for change.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While Cornyn and Paxton blister each other in their costly intraparty war, Democrat James Talarico<\/a> is regrouping after a hard-fought primary win over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas. \u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n He\u2019s using the lull to stockpile campaign cash, mend party divisions and court independents and moderate Republicans. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy top priority as the Democratic nominee is to bring the coalition together,\u201d Talarico told The News.\u00a0<\/p>\n That respite, however, will end abruptly after Republicans settle the runoff and redirect their attention toward November. \u00a0<\/p>\n Talarico, a state representative from Austin, acknowledged opponents \u201care going to throw everything they\u2019ve got at me.\u201d But he said his campaign would continue trying to build support across party lines.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to keep doing the work of bringing Texans together across these divisions,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Inside the GOP, some already are trying to contain the fallout from the Cornyn-Paxton tussle.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, one of the state\u2019s most influential Republicans, has publicly urged voters to fall in line behind whoever survives the runoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNo matter the outcome of the GOP primary runoffs, Republicans must unite to defeat the Democrats in November,\u201d he said earlier this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Split views\u00a0<\/p>\n Sen. John Cornyn poses for photos with backers at a campaign stop in February in Austin.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eric Gay\/AP<\/p>\n Former Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Jonathan\u00a0Neerman likes that Cornyn is predictable, even boring. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf Ken Paxton is the nominee, you could have a Republican wipeout of down-ballot candidates,\u201d Neerman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Cornyn, 74, is seeking a fifth term against the toughest opponent in a political career that began in 1985, when he became a state district judge before later winning statewide office as a Texas Supreme Court justice, attorney general and U.S. senator.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cornyn has made character central to his reelection bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n He has warned that if Paxton wins the nomination, his personal and professional troubles could alienate moderate Republicans and independents, costing the GOP the Senate race and hurting the party down-ballot in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n Neerman said even if Cornyn and Paxton would vote the same way in the Senate 99% of the time, he still favors Cornyn\u2019s experience and stability.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cCornyn has provided steady leadership with a dash of boring,\u201d Neerman said. \u201cBoring is good.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, also backs Cornyn, saying his leadership in delivering for the state is part of \u201cmaking Texas what it is today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen John Cornyn talks, people listen because they respect him,\u201d Goldman said. \u201cHe\u2019s been tremendous for Texas.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cornyn narrowly finished first in the March 3 primary over Paxton but fell short of a majority, requiring a runoff. U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston finished third and has not made an endorsement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Cornyn and his allies have centered much of their advertising around a blunt message<\/a>: Paxton\u2019s years of scandal have disqualified him from higher office. \u00a0<\/p>\n The most recent Cornyn ad <\/a>revives adultery accusations against Paxton, saying he used burner phones and aliases to conceal an affair. The spot notes state Sen. Angela Paxton of McKinney filed for divorce on \u201cbiblical grounds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cKen Paxton has the ethics of a strip club owner,\u201d the narrator says. \u201cTexas moms: Would you want your daughters to marry a man like Ken Paxton?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cornyn also has hammered Paxton over his Texas House impeachment in 2023 on corruption allegations, his long-running securities fraud indictment and accusations by former aides that he abused his office to help a political donor. Paxton denied wrongdoing and was acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Trump loyalty\u00a0<\/p>\n Greg Smith (center) takes a photo with AttorneyGeneral Ken Paxton at the Conservative Political Action Conference in\u00a0March in Grapevine.<\/p>\n Shafkat Anowar\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n Laura Oakley, president of the Grapevine Republican Club, likes that Paxton picks fights.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHis victories have been overwhelming,\u201d said Laura Oakley, president of the Grapevine Republican Club. \u201cHe\u2019s pretty dadgum effective.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n That combative appeal has been key to Paxton\u2019s pitch against Cornyn. The attorney general has portrayed Cornyn as a stale Washington insider who has spent decades in office with little to show for the conservative movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Paxton, a former state legislator who was elected AG in 2014, also has tried to cast doubt on Cornyn\u2019s ties to President Donald Trump. \u00a0<\/p>\n In one TV ad, Paxton accused Cornyn of failing to support Trump\u2019s border wall push and highlighted past comments suggesting Trump\u2019s political moment had passed before Cornyn later endorsed him for president.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cornyn said his remarks were taken out of context and has sought to strengthen his ties to Trump as both candidates continue chasing the president\u2019s endorsement.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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