Voters will head to the polls in Texas on Tuesday night to finalize a number of statewide races for the November election — and it’s shaping up to be a major battle between establishment Republicans and the president’s MAGA wing.
One of the biggest races of the night is the runoff primary between Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Senate Republican nomination. President Donald Trump made an 11th-hour endorsement last week to back Paxton despite party leaders’ wishes, further intensifying the battle between the factions of the party.
“TEXAS, REMEMBER! Ken Paxton was a GREAT Attorney General, probably the best in the Country,” Trump wrote in a post on Sunday. “He was also very loyal to your favorite President, ME, as the Dumocrats played their ultimate game of Weaponization, and failed, BADLY!”
The runoff on Tuesday will conclude what has become the most expensive Senate primary in history. And it has Republicans watching closely, especially after many GOP lawmakers in Washington lamented Paxton is the weaker candidate.
Others worry Paxton’s candidacy will force Republicans to dedicate more money to defend what should be a solidly Republican seat.
“I think Paxton can win, but I think it’d be three times more expensive,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s staunchest allies in the Senate, told reporters last week. “We’ve got to raise a lot more money now.”
Early polling shows Cornyn with a greater chance to defeat state Rep. James Talarico, with Paxton either trailing or in a dead heat with the Democratic nominee. Talarico leads both in recent polling, but the race has been rated as likely Republican by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.
But the runoff also serves as the latest test of Trump’s hold on the party after the primary defeats of Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky, with the president endorsing both of their challengers. Trump similarly endorsed against Cornyn, claiming the four-term senator was not sufficiently loyal to the president’s agenda.
“Ken’s opponent was VERY disloyal to me, as President, and didn’t fight hard enough for the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump said. “What more needs to be said???”
Republicans battle in race for Texas attorney general
Ironically, the lead author of the SAVE America Act, Republicans’ flagship voting reform bill, could also lose his primary on Tuesday after Trump abstained from weighing in on the race.
Rep. Chip Roy is running against state Sen. Mayes Middleton to replace Paxton as the state attorney general — in what has also become the most expensive attorney general primary in U.S. history.
While the two have substantially similar conservative views, the race has become more of a battle over who is more loyal to Trump.
“Trump doesn’t trust RINO Chip Roy,” Middleton said in a campaign ad, referring to the nickname “Republican In Name Only.”
But Roy argues Middleton is seeking to buy his electoral win by largely self-funding his campaign with negative ads attacking the four-term congressman’s record. The Texas Republican, on the other hand, claims Middleton is woefully unqualified — and not actually the so-called MAGA candidate.
“MAGA is not something you just buy. My opponent thinks you can buy the brand,” Roy told Fox News. “I’m a longtime defender and supporter of the president’s agenda, of the America First agenda, the MAGA agenda, but I’m also an independent thinker who will stand up and make your case. And by the way, as a result, I’m able to deliver better than most members, and that’s what I’ll do as attorney general.”