President Donald Trump congratulated Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on his career in the Senate as he took to Truth Social to celebrate Ken Paxton‘s win in the Texas Senate GOP runoff. “Congratulations to Ken Paxton on such a tremendous win, and to John Cornyn for having run a strong and powerful race but, more importantly, having had a truly great career. John will remain my friend for a long time to come, as we both watch Ken become a fantastic, common sense Senator, one who is respected by all,” Trump wrote.
The president’s long-awaited endorsement of Paxton in the Lone Star State Republican runoff came last Tuesday, following weeks of Trump teasing that he would weigh in as the congressional GOP establishment pushed him to back Cornyn. Paxton, the current Texas attorney general whom Trump called “a fighter” who “knows how to WIN” in his endorsement message, swept the floor in the Tuesday night runoff.
Paxton defeated Cornyn by over a 27-point margin, taking the runoff race with 63.8% of the vote. Paxton, the more conservative hard-liner, is now poised to take on the Democratic nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, in the November primary.
Trump remained noncommittal on a Texas endorsement for months, giving a triple endorsement to Paxton, Cornyn, and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) in the initial March general primary before ultimately narrowing his support to Paxton. Cornyn sits in a different spot than some of the other GOP incumbents whom Trump did not endorse, such as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), as Cornyn and Trump are still largely in good standing.
