President Trump on Tuesday endorsed Ken Paxton in the race for U.S. Senate in Texas, delivering the state attorney general an edge in the primary runoff race against incumbent Senator John Cornyn.
“Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
“John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough,” the president added. “John was very late in backing me in what turned out to be a Historic Run for the Republican Nomination, and then, the Presidency, itself, both of which were Landslide Victories and, more importantly, gave us the Country that we have today.”
The president said he endorsed Paxton, a longtime Trump ally who led efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, because he will “tirelessly fight to continue the Great Growth of our Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations (I just delivered the Largest Tax and Regulation Cuts in American History!), and Advance MADE IN THE U.S.A., Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE, Champion Texas Oil & Gas, Advocate for our Amazing Farmers and Ranchers, Promote School Choice, Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Support our Incredible Military/Veterans, Safeguard our Elections, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment.”
Cornyn and Paxton will compete in a May 26 runoff after both candidates failed to secure more than 50 percent of the vote in the March primary. Cornyn had a slight edge in that election, finishing with 42 percent of the vote to Paxton’s 40.5 percent.
Some Texans will have already cast their votes in the runoff race before hearing Trump’s endorsement, as early voting began Monday.
The winner of the GOP primary runoff will take on Democrat James Talarico in November, after Talarico successfully defeated Representative Jasmine Crockett in the March Democratic primary.
The runoff race remains tight, according to polls, with Paxton appearing to have a slight edge, even before receiving Trump’s endorsement. A RealClearPolitics polling average finds Paxton leading 45.5 percent to Cornyn’s 42.3 percent.
Spending in the runoff has surpassed $25 million, according to the Texas Tribune.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump teased his impending endorsement saying, “There are those that say whoever I endorse is going to win. I don’t know if that’s true.”
“Historically that’s absolutely true,” he added. “I just don’t like to say it because I don’t like to brag.”
Trump said he had his mind made up for a long time about which candidate to endorse.
Ahead of the endorsement, Cornyn sought to show voters that he had overwhelmingly supported Trump in Congress, saying on Monday that he had voted in line with Trump’s positions 99.3 percent of the time. He also argued that Paxton is unfit for office, as Paxton was impeached by the Texas house in 2023 on articles including bribery and abuse of public trust, though he was ultimately acquitted by the state senate.
The race between Paxton and Cornyn, who has served in the Senate since 2003, will serve as yet another test of Trump’s lasting influence over the GOP; Trump’s endorsements previously proved determinative in the Louisiana Senate race, where Senator Bill Cassidy was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in the Republican primary, as well as the Indiana state senate primary, where most of Trump’s favored candidates ousted incumbents who had drawn Trump’s ire by voting against his redistricting plan.
On Tuesday evening, Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein will take on incumbent Representative Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s Republican primary.