![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/25I2IAZZJBA6NAD2AA7BTBXLHI.jpg\")
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, hugs Terry Wade at a campaign event in McKinney, Texas, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. | LM Otero, Associated Press <\/p>\nVoters will head to the polls in Texas on Tuesday night to finalize a number of statewide races for the November election \u2014 and it\u2019s shaping up to be a major battle between establishment Republicans and the president\u2019s MAGA wing. <\/p>\n
One of the biggest races of the night is the runoff primary between Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Senate Republican nomination. President Donald Trump made an 11th-hour endorsement last week to back Paxton despite party leaders\u2019 wishes, further intensifying the battle between the factions of the party. <\/p>\n
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, hugs Terry Wade at a campaign event in McKinney, Texas, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. | LM Otero, Associated Press <\/p>\n
\u201cTEXAS, REMEMBER! Ken Paxton was a GREAT Attorney General, probably the best in the Country,\u201d Trump wrote in a post on Sunday. \u201cHe was also very loyal to your favorite President, ME, as the Dumocrats played their ultimate game of Weaponization, and failed, BADLY!\u201d <\/p>\n
The runoff on Tuesday will conclude what has become the most expensive Senate primary in history<\/a>. And it has Republicans watching closely, especially after many GOP lawmakers in Washington lamented Paxton is the weaker candidate. <\/p>\n Others worry Paxton\u2019s candidacy will force Republicans to dedicate more money to defend what should be a solidly Republican seat. <\/p>\n \u201cI think Paxton can win, but I think it\u2019d be three times more expensive,\u201d Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump\u2019s staunchest allies in the Senate, told reporters last week. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to raise a lot more money now.\u201d<\/p>\n Early polling shows Cornyn with a greater chance<\/a> to defeat state Rep. James Talarico, with Paxton either trailing or in a dead heat<\/a> with the Democratic nominee. Talarico leads both in recent polling, but the race has been rated as likely Republican by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.<\/p>\n A Democrat hasn\u2019t won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.<\/p>\n But the runoff also serves as the latest test of Trump\u2019s hold on the party after the primary defeats of Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky, with the president endorsing both of their challengers. Trump similarly endorsed against Cornyn, claiming the four-term senator was not sufficiently loyal to the president\u2019s agenda. <\/p>\n \u201cKen\u2019s opponent was VERY disloyal to me, as President, and didn\u2019t fight hard enough for the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWhat more needs to be said???\u201d<\/p>\n Republicans battle in race for Texas attorney general <\/p>\n Ironically, the lead author of the SAVE America Act, Republicans\u2019 flagship voting reform bill, could also lose his primary on Tuesday after Trump abstained from weighing in on the race.<\/p>\n Rep. Chip Roy is running against state Sen. Mayes Middleton to replace Paxton as the state attorney general \u2014 in what has also become the most expensive attorney general primary in U.S. history. <\/p>\n While the two have substantially similar conservative views, the race has become more of a battle over who is more loyal to Trump. <\/p>\n \u201cTrump doesn\u2019t trust RINO Chip Roy,\u201d Middleton said in a campaign ad, referring to the nickname \u201cRepublican In Name Only.\u201d <\/p>\n But Roy argues Middleton is seeking to buy his electoral win by largely self-funding his campaign with negative ads attacking the four-term congressman\u2019s record. The Texas Republican, on the other hand, claims Middleton is woefully unqualified \u2014 and not actually the so-called MAGA candidate. <\/p>\n \u201cMAGA is not something you just buy. My opponent thinks you can buy the brand,\u201d Roy told Fox News. \u201cI\u2019m a longtime defender and supporter of the president\u2019s agenda, of the America First agenda, the MAGA agenda, but I\u2019m also an independent thinker who will stand up and make your case. And by the way, as a result, I\u2019m able to deliver better than most members, and that\u2019s what I\u2019ll do as attorney general.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Voters will head to the polls in Texas on Tuesday night to finalize a number of statewide races…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24215,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-309678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-news-feed-national","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309678","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=309678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/RF6NMUQFZ5CVPKOOHZWS4PYNKU.jpg\")
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, listens to testimony during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 25, 2018. In the Texas primary runoff, Tuesday, May 26, 2026, President Donald Trump has endorsed state Attorney General Ken Paxton over three-term Sen. John Cornyn in the president’s latest effort to rid the GOP of leaders he views as less devoted to him. | J. Scott Applewhite, Associated Press <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/BI46Z7A4QRALBLL4JBCU3UEQMQ.jpg\")
Former President Barack Obama, Texas Democratic Senate candidate Rep. James Talarico, and Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa visit the Taco Joint on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, in Austin, Texas. | Joel Angel Juarez, Associated Press <\/p>\n