WASHINGTON, May 19 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump endorsed hardliner Ken Paxton on Tuesday in his primary challenge to veteran Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn, boosting the Texas attorney general’s chances of securing his party’s nomination for a critical Texas race in November’s midterm elections.
Scandal-scarred Paxton faces Cornyn, an old guard Republican, in a May 26 runoff after neither secured a majority in their three-way March primary election. Both candidates had tried to position themselves as closely to Trump as possible, but some Republican leaders had worried that Paxton could endanger a typically safe seat.
Trump in March said he would ask the candidate he did not endorse to drop out of the race, which has been one of the nation’s costliest U.S. Senate primary contests.
“I know Ken well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a WINNER!” Trump wrote in an endorsement posted on his Truth Social platform.
Trump’s post said while Cornyn was a “good man” with whom he worked well, Cornyn was late to back Trump’s Republican presidential nomination.
Paxton said in a post on X that he was honored to receive Trump’s endorsement.
“No one has ever fought harder for the American people than President Trump, and I look forward to championing his America First agenda in the Senate!” Paxton said.
The victor of the runoff will face off against Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state lawmaker and Presbyterian seminarian who has explicitly appealed to independents and moderates in a state that has long been dominated by Republicans.
Democrats have long harbored hopes of turning Texas blue, but the party has not won a statewide race since 1994.
The party has an extremely narrow path to winning a Senate majority in November, which would require them to successfully defend all their current seats – even in competitive states where incumbents are retiring – and flipping Republican seats in four more states. A win in Texas would increase their options.
Paxton has a loyal following among conservative activists, thanks to his attacks on Texas immigration groups and what he calls illegal voting. He has won three statewide elections, most recently in 2022, but analysts say a primary victory could make the state more open to a Democratic upset.
Paxton has survived an impeachment by Republican lawmakers, a securities fraud indictment and a messy divorce.
Cornyn had argued that nominating Paxton could jeopardize Republicans’ 53-47 U.S. Senate majority, though Paxton accused him of fear-mongering and said he is confident his track record as state attorney general will help him prevail in November should he win the primary.
Trump had a mixed endorsement record in the U.S. midterms in 2022, pushing the Republican Party further to the right in nomination contests, but picking candidates who lost key elections, contributing to his party’s failure to take control of the Senate.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk,Ismail Shakil, Doina Chiacu; writing by Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by David Ljunggren and Alistair Bell)
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