Trump backs Paxton over Cornyn, enraging Senate Republicans
Trump’s Paxton endorsement jolted Senate Republicans, who had spent more than $10 million trying to save John Cornyn and now fear a harder path for the party’s agenda.
Donald Trump’s decision to back Ken Paxton over John Cornyn did more than settle a Texas primary. It exposed the limits of Trump’s leverage inside the Senate GOP, where the president’s choice enraged lawmakers who had spent months and millions trying to protect one of their own and who now worry the fallout will spill far beyond Texas.
Senate Republicans reacted with frustration, anger and even sadness after Trump endorsed Paxton on May 19. Many viewed Cornyn as a respected party stalwart, a man first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002 who rose to serve as Senate Republican whip from 2013 to 2019 and is now in his fourth term. For Trump to turn on Cornyn after years of loyalty sent a sharp message through a Republican-controlled Senate already split by personal grievances and tactical mistrust.
The blow landed even harder because Senate Republicans had invested heavily in Cornyn’s reelection. The National Republican Senatorial Committee and One Nation, the fundraising network tied to Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s political operation, spent more than $10 million to help him. Thune had worked behind the scenes for months to persuade Trump to stay with Cornyn, so some senators saw the endorsement of Paxton as a rebuke not just of Cornyn, but of Thune as well.
Paxton’s victory over Cornyn in the Texas Republican Senate runoff on May 26 leaves Democrats sensing opportunity in a state where they had expected Cornyn to be the tougher general-election opponent. James Talarico will now face Paxton in November, and Democratic strategists believe Paxton’s legal and ethical baggage could make Texas more competitive than usual. That baggage is not new. The Texas House of Representatives approved 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton on May 27, 2023, and the Texas Senate acquitted him of all articles in September 2023.
For Republicans, the larger concern is not just who lost in Texas, but what Trump’s intervention does to the Senate relationship that he still needs to govern. Cornyn had spent more than a year trying to show Trump and Texas Republicans that he was on the same team, posting reminders of his support for major Trump priorities, only to be branded disloyal anyway. Now some senators are openly wondering whether Cornyn, like Thom Tillis and Bill Cassidy, will be less willing to bend once he is out of office. In a chamber where Trump still depends on discipline for nominees, legislation and intraparty deals, the Texas rupture hardened resentments at exactly the moment Republicans can least afford them.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
