{"id":307638,"date":"2026-05-25T05:58:53","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/307638\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T05:58:53","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T05:58:53","slug":"why-texas-republicans-see-trump-backed-ken-paxton-as-a-red-flag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/307638\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Texas Republicans see Trump-backed Ken Paxton as a red flag"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hours after President Trump suddenly intervened in the bitter fight over the Republican nomination for a Senate seat in Texas, Mark Evans rushed to cast his ballot. He had loosely decided on who to vote for but Trump\u2019s endorsement of Ken Paxton, a scandal-plagued Maga loyalist, cemented his decision.<\/p>\n

Rather than tipping the balance in Paxton\u2019s favour, Trump\u2019s endorsement sealed Evans\u2019s vote for his opponent John Cornyn, the softly spoken career politician who has held the seat since George W Bush\u2019s first term. <\/p>\n

\"COMBO-US-POLITICS-VOTE-PRIMARY-TEXAS\"John Cornyn, left, and Ken Paxton MANDEL NGAN\/AFP\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Not because he dislikes Paxton, or because he believes Cornyn would do a better job, but because he fears someone else: James Talarico<\/a>, the 37-year-old Democrat who offers the party\u2019s best hope of turning Texas blue for the first time in more than three decades.<\/p>\n

\"BarackJames Talarico, right, campaigning with Barack Obama this month JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ\/Getty IMAGES<\/p>\n

\u201cTalarico is a very gifted politician, and he\u2019s going to be very formidable. And I think Cornyn is our best chance to beat him,\u201d Evans, a 54-year-old business owner, told The Times after casting his vote in Plano, a Dallas suburb not far from where Paxton lives. <\/p>\n

\"MarkMark Evans SHELBY TAUBER FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

He worries that black marks against Paxton\u2019s name \u2014 including a historical indictment on fraud charges (which was later dismissed), impeachment over claims of bribery and a divorce filing against him on \u201cbiblical grounds\u201d \u2014 make him an easy target for his Democratic rivals.<\/p>\n

Evans\u2019s concerns echo those of Republican leaders in Washington who worry the allegations against Paxton \u2014 which include claims he was unfaithful in his marriage to Angela Paxton, a well-liked member of the state senate \u2014 will put off voters in one of the most religious states in the US. They fear that running a \u201cflawed\u201d candidate against Talarico, the smooth-talking, Bible-quoting former teacher, will give the Democrats the upper hand.<\/p>\n

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The Texas Republican primary run-off is being viewed as one of the final battlefields of Trump\u2019s \u201crevenge tour\u201d against party colleagues<\/a> he deems to have slighted him. The president endorsed Paxton, 63, as he celebrated the ousting from Republican renomination of the Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, who voted to impeach Trump over the January 6 riot, and the Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie, who pushed for the release of the Epstein files.<\/p>\n

While Cornyn, 74, pitched himself as the safer candidate, making overtures to Trump that included offering to name a highway after him, he failed a stringent loyalty test. In 2023 he said Trump\u2019s time \u201chas passed him by\u201d and he did not support his 2024 campaign until he had all but sewn up the Republican nomination.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Paxton\u2019s support has been unwavering. He has made a name for himself as state attorney-general since 2015 as a partisan attack dog known for suing the Obama and Biden administrations more than 100 times.<\/p>\n

\u201cKen is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social last week, calling him a \u201cWINNER\u201d. While he called Cornyn a \u201cgood man\u201d, he said the senator was \u201cnot supportive of me when times were tough\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Transgender-Health-Texas-Hospital\"Paxton with President Trump in 2019 EVAN VUCCI\/AP<\/p>\n

Cornyn narrowly beat Paxton in the March primary but failed to secure 50 per cent of the vote, prompting a run-off on Tuesday. It has been the most expensive Senate primary race in US history, costing more than $120 million, the majority of which was spent by Cornyn\u2019s campaign. The race has been as bitter as it has been expensive, including one attack ad from Cornyn\u2019s team that used artificial intelligence to show Paxton driving with several mistresses to the tune of Love Shack by the B-52s.<\/p>\n

For many grassroots voters in Texas, who are most likely to be motivated to vote in the run-off, Trump\u2019s efforts to expunge \u201cestablishment\u201d Republicans like Cornyn is a welcome shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my pleasure, for the first time, to [vote to] actually get rid of John Cornyn,\u201d said Clark Brown, who voted for Paxton within the first few hours of early voting. He added that Cornyn was a \u201cRino\u201d, or Republican in name only, and he was \u201cgoing to have a rhinoplasty\u201d.<\/p>\n

Brown, who is in his sixties, lives in Plano and describes himself as \u201csuper Maga\u201d, likened Republicans willing to look past Paxton\u2019s baggage to Democrats who stayed loyal to Bill Clinton despite his infidelities. \u201cI think Paxton might have his flaws, but a learned man once said, you know who, \u2018those who have no sins cast the first stone\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n

Outside a polling station in the neighbouring county of Denton, another Republican stronghold, three women who host a podcast called The Lone Star Ladies waved Paxton flags and urged voters to support him. <\/p>\n

Brandie Kennedy, 49, a construction co-ordinator, described Paxton as a \u201cfighter\u201d and did not see why anyone who voted for Trump should have any concerns about him. \u201cDid he not bring the same kind of character into the role of president? Is he not defending our country? Yes, and I think Paxton will do the same thing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"BrandieBrandie Kennedy Shelby Tauber FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

Sheree Rose, a retired real estate site locator wearing a white Paxton T-shirt and Republican elephant earrings, agreed that voters should look past the allegations against Paxton. \u201cI think you know what people do in their private time is kind of their private time, as long as it\u2019s not murder or something,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"ShereeSheree Rose Shelby Tauber<\/p>\n

But for some voters, Paxton\u2019s baggage is not something they they can overlook. In Highland Park, a Dallas suburb where sprawling mansions on quiet tree-lined roads can cost more than $35 million, voters casting early ballots predominantly said they backed Cornyn.<\/p>\n

Morris Gottlieb, a surgeon, said that while he was pleased with Paxton as Texas attorney-general, the allegations of infidelity were a red line. \u201cI feel that he\u2019s not a man of good morals. I don\u2019t like the way he treated his wife,\u201d he said. Gottlieb, 54, added: \u201cI think Cornyn is not the greatest conservative Republican \u2026 I just would prefer Cornyn over Paxton.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MorrisMorris Gottlieb Shelby Tauber FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

Keith Kennel, a 75-year-old air force veteran and retired commercial pilot, voted for Cornyn. \u201cI was going to vote for Paxton but my wife said, \u2018Don\u2019t you dare,\u2019\u201d he said outside a polling station in Keller, a Dallas suburb that voted for Trump in the 2024 election. He said Paxton\u2019s alleged infidelity was a \u201cdetermining point\u201d for his wife. \u201cHe\u2019s been a heck of an attorney-general for the state of Texas, but I like living with my missus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NancyKeith Kennel, right, with his fellow voters Tom Johnson and Nancy Schwartz JohnsonShelby Tauber FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

While most Republicans said they would hold their nose and vote for either candidate if they won the nomination, Brittany Ludiker, 39, said if Paxton won she would probably stay home and not vote for the first time in her life. Two other female Cornyn voters said they would vote for Talarico if Paxton prevailed.<\/p>\n

\"BrittanyBrittany Ludiker Shelby Tauber FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

Polls and experts suggest it will be a tougher win for Republicans should Paxton be in the race.\u00a0According to Real Clear Polling, which averages polling data, Talarico has a slightly bigger edge over Paxton in a general election than over Cornyn. <\/p>\n

The Cook Political Report lists the race as \u201clikely Republican\u201d \u2014 but if Paxton wins, that designation would shift to the weaker \u201clean Republican\u201d.<\/p>\n

Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Texas, said that if Paxton won, the race would present a tougher challenge for the Republican Party.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Talarico campaign will certainly be pleased if they are facing off against Paxton, because they see him as much more vulnerable, much more attackable, and a much better contrast with the Talarico image they want to project,\u201d he said. \u201cIt gives Democrats their best chance in decades to break the Republican winning streak.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other experts are confident either Paxton or Cornyn will comfortably win the seat. Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas Republican political consultant and co-founder of Steinhauser Strategies who worked on Cornyn\u2019s 2014 Senate race, thinks the fears that Paxton would fail to beat Talarico are overstated.<\/p>\n

For Brown, the \u201csuper-Maga\u201d supporter, that was not necessarily the issue. \u201cI felt really good voting for Paxton, like I did something bad,\u201d he said. \u201cThings aren\u2019t going well, and I\u2019m looking for somebody to blame. I\u2019m going to blame the Rinos, fair or unfair.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hours after President Trump suddenly intervened in the bitter fight over the Republican nomination for a Senate seat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":307639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-307638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/307639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}