Trump-Backed Ken Paxton Cruises to Victory in Texas Senate Race

Paxton, the embattled state attorney general, won the president’s endorsement a week before the primary.

admin May 27, 2026 2 minutes read

President Donald Trump has prevailed again in the Republican primaries — this time by playing a role in ousting veteran Texas Sen. John Cornyn.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will be the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas after clinching Trump’s endorsement last week. He will face Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in November.

Paxton proved to be a serious primary challenger against four-term incumbent Cornyn despite having a checkered history in the state. The attorney general has been indicted on charges of felony securities fraud, impeached by the state House (and later acquitted by the state Senate) and accused of adultery. He has denied the fraud and adultery allegations.

Ultimately, it was Cornyn’s complicated relationship with Trump diehards in the state that ended up being the bigger liability. Trump’s base labeled Cornyn, who has long served in Republican leadership — and himself ran to be Majority Leader — a RINO from a bygone era of the party.

Trump was reportedly on the fence about which candidate to endorse in Texas, but ultimately settled on Paxton after criticizing Cornyn for not backing his presidential bids quickly enough. Trump’s primary picks have swept so far this primary season. Candidates with Trump endorsements won primaries in Indiana, Louisiana and Kentucky.

Democrats, already excited about Talarico as a rising star in the party, grew more bullish about their chances in Texas once Trump backed Paxton. But winning in Texas will be expensive, and national Republicans have more resources at their disposal than Democrats.

Talarico has raised more than $40 million this cycle and has just under $10 million in cash on hand, per a recent FEC report. Paxton raised about $7.6 million and has about $2.3 million cash on hand, per his pre-runoff report.

The runoff defeat is a bruising loss for Cornyn, an influential fundraiser in Texas and a darling of the GOP establishment.

Paxton began to turn his attention toward November even before Election Day. He pulled negative ads about Cornyn in the last days of the race and criticized Talarico at a recent campaign stop, calling him nicknames like “Low-T Talarico,” “Tofu Talarico,” and “Tala-freak-o.”