President Donald Trump has added another victory in Texas and demonstrates the strong control of the MAGA wing within the Republican Party in this key state. His Senate candidate, the controversial Attorney General Ken Paxton, has won by a wide margin of votes over veteran Republican Senator John Cornyn. With the result, Paxton takes away from Cornyn the opportunity to fight for a fifth term in Washington in the November midterm elections.
According to projections from the AP agency, Paxton has obtained more than 60% of the votes, securing victories in key counties that also voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
The Republican primary for one of Texas’s Senate seats — which Cornyn has held for four terms; the other is represented by Ted Cruz — has been considered one of the most expensive in the country — with more than $135 million in advertising. Also one of the most personal. Paxton and Cornyn — who had never lost an election — attacked each other fiercely during the campaign spreading scandals, boasting about their levels of conservatism, as well as their ability to win the November election against state senator James Talarico, the Democratic nominee.
This particular election has been seen as a measure of strength between the traditional wing of the Republican Party and the Make America Great Again, MAGA, movement led by President Trump. It is a barometer to measure whether voters in this red state endorse the confrontational policy that led Trump to his first presidency 11 years ago or, on the contrary, are ready for a return to traditional Republican values.
Tuesday’s voting confirms the showdown between Paxton and state representative from Austin James Talarico, a rising Democratic star, a major fundraiser — who paid for a million-dollar ad in Spanish for the Super Bowl, which could only be seen in Houston, and used influencers and singers in his campaign — and who won the Democratic primary mainly due to Latino votes in border counties. Talarico is seen by Republicans as a threat. If he manages to beat Paxton on November 3, his victory would be the first time in more than 30 years that a Democrat represents Texas in the Washington Senate.
After the announcement of Paxton’s victory, Talarico called on the state’s electorate to unite: “the people versus Ken Paxton,” he wrote on his X account. He labeled the attorney as the “most corrupt politician in the United States,” and claimed he represents “the broken system we fight against.” In another message, he thanked Cornyn and spoke directly to the Republican senator’s voters: “You have a place in our campaign.”
Paxton also reacted on his social media and in a televised speech. After thanking Texas, he wrote on X: “We must unite to defeat the best-funded radical Democrat in the United States,” and left the link to donate to his campaign. In his speech to the media, he mocked the Democrat, thanked Trump for the “power” of his endorsement, and assured: “Tonight we send a message to Washington the size of Texas.”
Cornyn acknowledged defeat in a speech: “After a public service career lasting more than four decades and 18 consecutive campaigns won, tonight we fell short in these primaries,” he said accompanied by his wife and daughters. He assured that he intends to continue supporting the Republican Party.
Trump, for his part, savors the victory as his own. On his Truth Social account, he posted a flyer combining his photo with that of the Texas Attorney General and the message: “Ken Paxton won! He was backed by President Trump.”
In early and mid-May, Republican voters in Indiana and Kentucky followed Trump’s lead, despite questions from politicians in his own party. The president was already paving the way to prevail within his party without dissent.
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In the primaries for the Indiana state Senate, he managed to get five of his seven candidates to win over senators who had dared to challenge Trump in his mission to redraw electoral maps in favor of the Republican Party. These elections, which would go unnoticed in another context, became another barometer of support from his voters.
And the same happened in mid-month in Kentucky. Ed Gallrein, an unknown 68-year-old farmer, former member of the SEALs, the Navy’s special forces, won the Republican primary for Kentucky’s fourth district against a popular Republican congressman who had challenged Trump on numerous occasions, the eccentric Thomas Massie.
The fight for party votes
Paxton, who defined himself in his campaign as the MAGA option, arrived at Tuesday’s primary election strengthened after President Trump endorsed his candidacy at the last minute, just a week ago, but after months of a heated campaign without the president clearly speaking out on the matter.
Trump’s support for Paxton came at a time when early voting was already underway and was a clear challenge to party leaders who pressured him to back Cornyn. The president, as well as his MAGA followers, including Paxton, labeled Cornyn as a “disloyal” Republican; some voters even declared in the media that choosing the senator as a candidate is equivalent to supporting a Democrat.
Cornyn, who beat Paxton by an almost invisible margin of 42%-41% in the March primaries, thus failing to secure the Republican nomination on that first occasion, is seen by the Republican establishment as a traditional candidate, better positioned and with less weight to face a general election like the one that will occur in November.
Cornyn himself calls himself a Reagan Republican, someone with legitimacy within the party’s conservative tradition. That is why he stated that the Republican seat in the Texas Senate was at stake with Paxton’s victory.
In his campaign, Cornyn attacked his rival with nicknames like “corrupt Paxton” and accusations that he has become astronomically wealthy since taking office as Texas Attorney General in 2015. In 2023, the attorney faced an impeachment trial in the state House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, on charges of bribery and corruption. The Senate later acquitted him. Cornyn also attacked him for his alleged infidelity to his wife, who — without going into details — filed for divorce for “biblical reasons.”
When asking for voters’ support, Cornyn put Republican voters in the dilemma of choosing between a “strong” candidate who could defeat Talarico in November; or a “weak one that puts everything we care about at risk.” Voters, however, turned their backs on the Republican establishment and in Texas also sided with the President.
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