Hey, Mr. President, How’s That Texas Senate GOP Primary Runoff Endorsement Coming?

The big takeaway from last night’s primaries was that an endorsement from President Trump remains a likely surefire ticket to victory in a GOP primary, and a GOP elected official publicly opposing Trump runs a high risk of an early retirement.

As our Brittany Bernstein reports, “Trump-backed challengers handily defeating at least five of the seven state senators who opposed the president’s effort to eliminate Democratic congressional representation in the Hoosier State late last year as part of a mid-decade redistricting tit-for-tat between the parties.”

But it’s not quite always the case, and Trump doesn’t always behave as if he himself believes his endorsements amount to near-automatic victories in Republican primary battles. Some of us are still waiting for Trump to make his endorsement in the Texas GOP Senate runoff between Senator John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Way back on March 4, Trump boasted on Truth Social, “It is such an honor to realize and say that almost everyone I Endorse WINS, and wins by a lot, especially in Texas! I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!”

“Soon” is apparently an elastic term, as here we are, more than two months later, and Trump has still not endorsed either candidate. The runoff election is being held May 26. Most polling shows the race close. For what it is worth, CNN reports that “three people involved in the race said they no longer expected Trump to get involved in the battle between Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. However, they cautioned he could change his mind.”

If you were a cynic, you would think that Trump’s desire to endorse the winner makes him afraid to endorse a candidate who he thinks might lose, and the closeness of this race makes him hesitant to endorse either candidate.

But that’s only if you were a cynic.