Trump backs Paxton over Cornyn in Texas runoff

Daniela Altimari and John T. Bennett, CQ-Roll Call on May 19, 2026

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday spurned four-term Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and endorsed his primary challenger, Ken Paxton, the firebrand state attorney general who has been indicted and impeached and has positioned himself as a Trump-inspired disruptor.

“Ken Paxton has gone through a lot, in many cases, very unfairly, but he is a Fighter, and knows how to WIN,’’ Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

Trump’s announcement came one week before the runoff election in the Republican primary to decide who will take on Democratic nominee James Talarico. Cornyn finished ahead of Paxton in the March primary — barely — but failed to clear the 50% threshold to avoid the runoff.

Cornyn and national Republicans had long pushed for an endorsement from Trump, whose seal of approval remains a powerful symbol to GOP primary voters despite his declining polling numbers. Paxton earlier this year met with Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort and even offered to step aside if the Senate nixed the legislative filibuster to pass a bill known as the Save America Act, a GOP-crafted package of voter ID requirements and other elections changes, which is currently stalled.

In his endorsement post, Trump praised Paxton as “a Strong Supporter of TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER and, very importantly, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT.”

National Republicans have warned that the Texas seat could be at risk with Paxton as the nominee, given his trail of personal scandals, legal battles and allegations of marital infidelity. While Democrats haven’t won a Senate election in Texas since 1998, Talarico, a state legislator and Presbyterian seminarian, has been a fundraising juggernaut and has been competitive in polling against both Cornyn and Paxton.

Trump previously said he would expect the Texas candidate who did not receive his backing to drop out of the race, for “the good of the party.” He criticized Paxton in early March when asked about Paxton’s suggestion that he might stay in the runoff even if Cornyn got Trump’s endorsement.

“That’s bad for him to say,” Trump said during a media interview. “Maybe that leads me to go the other direction.”

But that did not materialize, and Cornyn showed no indication Tuesday that he would leave the race.

“It is now time for Texas Republican voters to decide if they want a strong nominee to help our GOP candidates down ballot and defeat Talarico in November, or a weak nominee who jeopardizes everything we care about,” Cornyn said on social media. “I trust the Republican voters of Texas.”

The battle between Cornyn and Paxton has been among the cycle’s nastiest, with the senator running ads accusing his opponent of financial impropriety, ethical lapses and moral failings.

The runoff also extended a costly contest that, between both parties, has become the most expensive Senate primary on record, according to AdImpact. National Republicans expressed concern that a prolonged battle between Cornyn and Paxton would drain money and resources from other competitive Senate contests.

Cornyn has a long track record of comfortably winning statewide races over a career that dates back to the 1990s. The senator and his allied committees have outraised and outspent Paxton by a wide margin.

Cornyn, who had the backing of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is an institutionalist who rose to the No. 2 position in Senate Republican leadership and is considered one of the chamber’s remaining deal-makers.

But his methodical approach to legislating and willingness to work with Democrats on several key issues has been seen as out of step with the insurgent style that dominates Republican politics in the Trump era.

“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 said Tuesday on Truth Social.

Cornyn has tried to enhance his credentials with the party’s MAGA base. In March, he voiced support for axing the legislative filibuster to help pass GOP priorities. As of Tuesday, his campaign website displayed a photo of Trump standing with him and a headline noting that Cornyn votes with Trump 99% of the time.

“I have worked closely with President Trump through both of his Presidential terms. ... He has consistently called me a friend in this race,” Cornyn said.

Trump’s public embrace of Paxton comes just three days after the defeat of another establishment Republican, Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, who came in third in Saturday’s GOP primary, behind the Trump-endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming.