President Donald Trump abandoning Sen. John Cornyn destabilizes the White House's already-rocky relationship with Senate Republicans.Show Caption
President Trump endorsed Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn in the Texas Republican Senate runoff.Paxton's allies believe the endorsement will secure his victory, while Cornyn's campaign highlights Paxton's scandals.Polls suggest a potentially competitive November election in Texas against Democrat James Talarico.President Donald Trump has steadily eliminated congressional Republican dissidents in the 2026 primaries and the next is likely to be Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a four-term face of the establishment whom Trump abandoned for a MAGA-coded contender a week before Conryn's critical May 26 runoff for the GOP nomination.After declining for months to publicly back a candidate in a bitter primary race, the president threw his endorsement behind Ken Paxton, the Lone Star State's attorney general. He called the controversial challenger a "true MAGA Warrior" who has delivered while casting Cornyn – once the second-highest ranking Senate Republican – as fickle.The four-term senator "was not supportive of me when times were tough," the president said. Although Cornyn's voting record is reliably conservative, he said in 2023 he was looking for alternatives to Trump as he didn't believe Trump could win the 2024 presidential election.Political observers say Trump's endorsement destabilizes an already-rocky relationship with Senate Republicans, who are beginning to buck the administration over the war in Iran and the glitzy planned White House ballroom.Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana lost his primary reelection bid after earning Trump's ire by voting to convict the president in his second impeachment trial. Cassidy has since voted to advance the war powers resolution to end the war in Iran, after previously opposing the measure before his reelection loss.If Cornyn were to fall, he could join a small but critical group of Republican senators who are willing to buck the president because they are either retiring or lost their primary due to his opposition."Trump may get a sugar high from making these endorsements that delight his base, but he has made the math far more difficult in the Senate when it comes to getting anything done in an election year," said Jessica Taylor, an analyst for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which forecasts U.S. elections. "He's made these senators free agents because they don't have to worry any longer about their own reelection prospects, and they are no longer encumbered by fealty to Trump."Paxton's electability in November has also been a source of intra-GOP contention, with establishment Republicans expressing concerns about to the attorney general's past bribery allegations and marital drama.Cornyn echoed that point in a May 20 digital ad, highlighting Paxton's scandals by calling attention to Paxton's net worth ballooning to $12 million during his time in office and him owning almost a dozen homes, along with alleged infidelity and his divorce.Without mentioning Democratic nominee state Rep. James Talarico by name, the Cornyn ad warned that the attorney general's nomination could be a catalyst for the first Democratic Senate victory in Texas since 1988."If Ken Paxton's our Senate nominee, the national media will swarm Austin," the ad's voiceover states. "Paxton's scandals will dominate the election.""Ken Paxton is filthy rich, but he's morally bankrupt," the ad continues. "Crooked Ken is a mortal threat to the America First agenda."Paxton and his allies turn down volume amid bitter feudTrump's decision to back Paxton comes after top Senate leaders and former Trump campaign advisors unsuccessfully lobbied the White House on Cornyn's behalf.Mark Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University in Houston, said the Cornyn campaign and its allies were never able to effectively convince Trump that Paxton represented a greater liability for Republicans than Cornyn."I wouldn't want to say that Cornyn has no chance of victory on Tuesday, but those chances are his chances of victory are very remote," Jones said. "More likely than not, he's now a dead man walking."A new SoCal Strategies survey of likely GOP voters in Texas conducted after Trump's endorsement showed Paxton carrying a commanding 21-point lead over Cornyn.The Cornyn campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story, but Paxton's allies are giddy over Trump's endorsement."We've really felt that Ken Paxton is a great fit for the current and the future of the Republican Party, particularly in Texas," Gregg Keller, spokesman for the pro-Paxton Lone Star Liberty PAC, told USA TODAY. "This is a guy who the grassroots love; who is a conservative through and through; who doesn't need to fake or pretend as if he is MAGA or as if he is America First, that's just who he is."Some Republicans have already indicated that Trump's endorsement effectively has ended the runoff, suggesting that attention turn to Talarico and the Democrats. In a May 21 post on X, Texas GOP chair Abraham George called on both Senate candidates to "pull all negative advertising" and finish the runoff campaign on a "positive note" ahead of the fall campaign.Paxton and his allies indicated they are shutting off the valve of attack ads aimed at Cornyn, telling USA TODAY it is paramount that conservatives begin to reconcile early after a bruising primary. "It's really important that we start prosecuting the case against Talarico," Keller said.But Cornyn's team rebuffed that olive branch, saying in a May 21 post on X responding directly to Paxton that he is "desperate to avoid accountability." The senator's campaign said it plans to "burn in" facts about his record, such as a plea deal his prosecutors offered a Waco man in April who was charged with repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy."(Election Day) is judgment day," the Cornyn campaign said in a May 22 post on X. "We fought for Texas. We worked for Texas. And we’re not going to quit telling the truth about someone who could put it all at risk."Texas endorsement exacerbates Trump, Senate GOP divideThe president has been on a winning streak against Republicans who have defied him, starting with beating five out of seven state Senate incumbents in Indiana on May 5. Then his endorsed candidate defeated incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana on May 16. Most recently his handpicked contender prevailed over incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky on May 19.GOP strategist Jesse Hunt said that these developments have created an "unique dynamic" for the White House given the number of Senate Republicans who are either retiring or lost their reelection bids after clashing with Trump."I'd say there's probably a rightful frustration in the mind of the president who sees himself as being more popular than the senators, and people in their states, particularly primary voters, wanting the senators to adhere to the guidance coming from the administration to pass their agenda," he said.But other experts contend the White House is engaging in a selfish play that won't help them keep their congressional majorities or govern for the remainder of 2026."Trump is doing what's best for him and not what's best for the Republican party as a whole," Taylor said. "It absolutely does put the Senate further at risk."Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said the Paxton endorsement will make the Texas contest more expensive for Republicans because Paxton is more vulnerable to a Democratic upset than Cornyn. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, said many conference members were "disappointed" that the president didn't back Cornyn.That angst coincided with some GOP members expressing unease about the Justice Department's newly announced $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund that could funnel payments to Trump allies, including individuals convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol."So the nation's top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong — take your pick," Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said in a May 21 statement.Hunt, a former spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said there have always been differing opinions between the White House and Senate, but that many senators are coming to accept this is Trump's party now."I would actually go as far as to say that President Trump has been able to get his home party in line better than a lot of other presidents have because of his immense popularity in Republican primaries," Hunt said."The only thing that matters for Leader Thune right now for Republicans is holding the Senate majority," he added. "It's incredibly important."Democrats grinning at prospects of making Texas competitiveAt the moment Texas polling shows no matter who wins the Republican primary runoff, both Cornyn and Paxton face a tougher-than-expected battle heading into November.Trump won Texas by 14 percentage points in 2024, but a poll by Texas Southern University's Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center released earlier this month showed if Paxton advances, about 45% of voters said they would back the attorney general compared to 45% for Talarico.Cornyn carried 45% of voters compared to 44% for Talarico, the poll finds.Talarico has been thrust into the national spotlight since his primary campaign against Rep. Jasmine Crockett, raking in a massive $27 million haul in the first three months of 2026. Former President Barack Obama joined Talarico on the campaign trail earlier this year when the two posed for a photo at a taco restaurant in Austin.Texas is rated as a "likely" Republican state, according to Cook Political Report, and the forecast notes that nominating Paxton would make it a more competitive race.Most conservatives dismiss the idea of Texas being in play this year, arguing that once their MAGA machine focuses on Talarico, his support will drop. The president called the Democratic nominee a "weird, a weird candidate," when speaking to reporters May 15 on Air Force One as he returned from China. He mocked Talarico, falsely saying the 37-year-old legislator is a vegan. In a March 19 interview with "The Bulwark Podcast," the Democratic Senate nominee "definitively, categorically" denied the accusation."Our campaign basically runs on barbecue these days," Talarico said.Trump also said Talarico believes there are "six genders," an attack referencing his objections to a April 2021 Texas bill that would have required public school students to play on athletic teams based their assigned sex at birth.During the debate, Talarico mentioned that modern science "recognizes that there are many more than two biological sexes — in fact, there are six, which, honestly... surprised me, too."Talarico and his supporters say it won't matter who comes out of the GOP runoff because both are "creatures of the corrupt, broken billionaire politics" that a new generation of Texans are prepared to fight."Donald Trump and Ken Paxton are two adulterous, felonious, impeached peas in a pod — so it’s no surprise that they’re banding together," Texas state Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, a Talarico supporter, told USA TODAY. "We're ready to defeat whichever extreme Republican primary voters choose on Tuesday."Contributing: Zachary Schermele, Adam Powell
