{"id":606,"date":"2026-05-20T17:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T17:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=606"},"modified":"2026-05-20T17:35:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T17:35:18","slug":"trump-endorses-ken-paxton-in-texas-gop-primary-boosting-his-challenge-to-incumbent-sen-cornyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=606","title":{"rendered":"Trump endorses Ken Paxton in Texas GOP primary, boosting his challenge to incumbent Sen. Cornyn"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ALLEN, Texas (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, supercharging his effort to oust incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in next week\u2019s runoff.<\/p>\n

Read more \u201890 Day Fianc\u00e9\u2019 star Jenny Slatten diagnosed with ALS<\/a><\/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 social media.<\/p>\n

News of the endorsement broke during a Paxton campaign event in Allen, Texas, drawing cheers from supporters who began dancing to \u201cYMCA,\u201d a Trump campaign anthem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so much respect for the president and appreciate so much his endorsement,\u201d Paxton said.<\/p>\n

Paxton and Cornyn advanced to a May 26 runoff after finishing as the top vote-getters in a March 3 primary in which no candidate won a majority. Early voting started Monday and continues through Friday.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s endorsement is the latest of several he has handed out in Republican primaries in an attempt to cull his party of politicians whom he\u2019s deemed insufficiently loyal. Recent successes appear to have emboldened Trump, including the defeats of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and Indiana state senators who opposed him on redistricting.<\/p>\n

He also picked and endorsed a challenger to Kentucky U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie in Tuesday\u2019s primary. Massie\u2019s push to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and his vocal opposition to the Iran war have grated on Trump. He supported Ed Gallrein, who defeated Massie.<\/p>\n

Although the four-term Cornyn has backed Trump\u2019s agenda in Washington, Paxton pitched himself as a political warrior for the Make America Great Again movement. Trump\u2019s endorsement puts him at odds with his party\u2019s establishment, which is convinced that Cornyn is the better candidate for November\u2019s general election. The Republican nominee will face Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.<\/p>\n

A bitter and expensive GOP battle<\/h3>\n

Speaking at a campaign event in Lubbock later Tuesday, Cornyn said Trump\u2019s endorsement \u201cwill certainly have an impact on the race\u201d but added \u201cwe\u2019re not giving up the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know who gets to choose our senators and it\u2019s the people of Texas,\u201d Cornyn said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no substitute for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cornyn, who said he had not spoken with Trump about the endorsement, also leaned into an argument he\u2019s repeated on the campaign trail: that in November\u2019s general election against Talarico, Paxton will be \u201ca weak nominee who jeopardizes everything we care about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Talarico said in a statement that \u201cit doesn\u2019t matter who wins this runoff. We already know who we\u2019re running against: the billionaire megadonors and their corrupt political system.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, in his social media post, said Cornyn was \u201ca good man,\u201d but \u201che was not supportive of me when times were tough.\u201d He complained, \u201cJohn was very late in backing me in what turned out to be a Historic Run for the Republican Nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n

The runoff between Cornyn and Paxton has been a bitter and expensive battle for the future of the Republican Party, and one that was diverting resources from other competitive races elsewhere in the country.<\/p>\n

Cornyn\u2019s campaign organizations and allied super PACs have been vastly outspending Paxton on advertising since last year, the overwhelming majority of which has been dedicated to attacking Paxton. This week, Cornyn\u2019s campaign and groups supporting it will have spent more than $87 million on advertising, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact, including more than $18.5 million since the March 3 primary.<\/p>\n

Paxton\u2019s campaign groups and a single super PAC have spent a fraction of what pro-Cornyn groups have, combining to spend a total of $9.2 million on advertising, about $4.9 million since the primary election on March 3.<\/p>\n

Read more US government agrees to drop tax claims against Trump in broadening of IRS lawsuit settlement<\/a><\/p>\n

Concerns on Capitol Hill<\/h3>\n

Senate Republicans left a luncheon lamenting Trump\u2019s decision and its implications for Cornyn. GOP leaders have worried publicly that Republicans will have to spend millions more in a general election if Paxton is the nominee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sad, I\u2019m actually sad,\u201d said Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis, adding that she believed Cornyn had a better chance of winning the general election.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it\u2019ll just cost us a fortune,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The endorsement excited supporters at Paxton\u2019s event on Tuesday. Caroline Zadeh said it was an \u201cawesome thing\u201d and that she trusts \u201cTrump to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had Cornyn in the office for quite a while,\u201d she said of her frustrations with the senator, and \u201ca lot of controversy between him and Trump\u2019s administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the other camp, Bennie Newman said he voted for Cornyn on Tuesday before hearing of the endorsement, which came as \u201ca surprise\u201d and \u201ca disappointment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newman supports Trump, but he still would\u2019ve voted for Cornyn because he \u201chas almost been impeccable in terms of his reputation,\u201d he said. Referencing some of Paxton\u2019s scandals, he said that the attorney general would be a weaker candidate against Talarico in November\u2019s general election.<\/p>\n

Cornyn and Trump have clashed before<\/h3>\n

Trump has had an at-times cool relationship with Cornyn, notably after the senator suggested in 2023 that Trump could not win the presidency again in 2024 and that his \u201ctime has passed him by.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cornyn also was an early critic of Trump\u2019s plan for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico \u2014 a project he now supports.<\/p>\n

A former state attorney general and state Supreme Court judge, Cornyn was first elected to statewide office 36 years ago. His understated style and judge\u2019s temperament contrast with the fiery rhetoric of Trump and his Make America Great Again movement.<\/p>\n

Cornyn has had support from Senate Republican leadership, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, who warned that \u201cit is a strong possibility we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Republican leaders have worried the party will need to spend much more money to defend the seat if Paxton is the nominee \u2014 money they could be spending on Senate races in more competitive states. Paxton was acquitted in a 2023 impeachment trial on corruption charges. He also reached a deal in 2024 to end a long-running securities fraud case.<\/p>\n

While Trump\u2019s approval ratings have slumped among Americans overall, he has shown the ability to sway GOP primary voters.<\/p>\n

In Indiana, Trump\u2019s endorsement helped dislodge five of the seven Republican state senators who were seeking reelection in the May 5 primary after they voted in December against the White House-backed redistricting plan to give Republicans an advantage in U.S. House races.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Cassidy finished third in Louisiana, therefore out of the running in the June 27 runoff for the Republican nomination to the seat he has held for two terms. The Trump-endorsed candidate, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, finished first ahead of state Treasurer John Fleming and both will compete in the runoff.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa, and Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas. Associated Press journalists Stephen Groves in Washington and Kendria LaFleur in Allen, Texas, contributed.<\/p>\n

Read more Another plane makes emergency landing on road near Lake Havasu<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow the AP\u2019s coverage of the 2026 elections at apnews.com\/hub\/elections.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Texas Attorney General\u00a0Ken Paxton, supercharging his effort to oust incumbent Sen.\u00a0John Cornyn. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump endorses Ken Paxton in Texas GOP primary, boosting his challenge to incumbent Sen. 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