Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton decisively won Tuesday’s primary runoff election in the Lone Star State, knocking off incumbent Sen. John Cornyn exactly one week after securing President Trump’s pivotal endorsement.
Paxton’s landslide victory is the third closely watched result in 10 days that demonstrates Trump’s unrivaled influence over the Republican Party, following the defeats of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
Cornyn (R-Texas) topped Paxton by 2.5 percentage points in the March 3 primary, but with Trump opting not to weigh in on the race, neither candidate reached the 50% benchmark needed to secure the nomination.
Paxton, 63, will take on Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in the Nov. 3 general election, a race which will go a long way to determining whether Republicans can maintain control of the upper chamber.
Talarico, 37, defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) in the March primary to secure the Democratic nomination.
The most recent poll, taken by Texas Southern University and YouGov and released May 18, showed Paxton and Talarico in a dead heat, with each on 45% support. Texans have not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, when Lloyd Bentsen won a fourth term.
Cornyn, 74, will depart the Senate having served failed in his bid to win a fifth term.
The incumbent had polled slightly better against Talarico than Paxton and GOP establishment figures, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and scores of Cornyn’s colleagues had begged Trump to make the safe choice.
Cornyn had backed calls to weaken the filibuster and championed the SAVE America Act to require proof of citizenship to vote, among other conservative wishlist items, during the scramble to get Trump’s endorsement.
On the eve of Trump’s announcement, Cornyn acknowledged that he believed “that ship has finally sailed,” when asked if he thought he would receive the president’s backing.
Paxton has touted his history of suing to defend conservative values, including the more than 100 lawsuits against the Biden administration over “open borders policies, government overreach, attacks on the Second Amendment, and the far-left’s radical agenda.”
However, Paxton has a history of scandal that some Republicans warned would make for a more difficult race.
Back in 2015, the Texas AG was indicted on securities fraud charges which were later dismissed.
In 2023, he was impeached over allegations that he obstructed justice in the securities fraud case, gave preferential treatment to a donor, made false statements against whistleblowers, and misappropriated public resources, among other concerns.
During the state Senate trial, Paxton was suspended from his duties, but ultimately survived in a narrow 16–14 vote.
The Texas Senate primaries were the most expensive in US history, with more than $110 million shelled out on advertising, according to Adimpact.
More than $64 million of that sum went to ads boosting Cornyn.
