With former President Donald Trump weighing which candidate to endorse in Texas’ U.S. Senate runoff, several Texas Republicans said the choice could turn on whether Trump stays aligned with the MAGA base rather than with Washington establishment figures.
The concern aired by lawmakers in interviews with The Associated Press was that Trump could be “out of step” with what their voters want if he backs Sen. John Cornyn, a four-term incumbent, over Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a conservative challenger. The lawmakers said the president’s broad popularity in Texas may not prevent backlash within parts of the Republican coalition.
Cornyn and Paxton are headed to a May 26 runoff after neither won a majority in the March 3 Republican primary to clinch the nomination. Trump said March 4 that he would endorse one of them and later hinted in an interview with Politico that he was leaning toward Cornyn, but no endorsement has been announced since then, leaving the race in a waiting period that both campaigns are using to build leverage.
Among those who said a Cornyn endorsement could be a MAGA “mistake” was Houston-area state lawmaker Tom Oliverson, who leads the Republican caucus in the Texas House. Oliverson said, “Some of his hardest and most ardent supporters will see this as a slap in the face.” Steve Toth, a Republican state lawmaker from The Woodlands who recently defeated incumbent Rep. Dan Crenshaw, said “what the president doesn’t understand here in Texas is the amount of frustration that Texas voters have with John Cornyn.” Toth said while he does not believe such an endorsement would necessarily damage Trump, he does think it would be a mistake “for him to possibly endorse John Cornyn,” adding, “I don’t think it’s a mistake that’s going to hurt him.” Toth’s view was that “Yes, I do” characterize the potential misstep.
Other lawmakers said voters want Paxton and worried Cornyn’s brand of conservatism would not match the moment. Rep. Wesley Virdell, a leading gun-rights advocate in the Texas House, said he had “concern that he may be getting bad advice from certain officials,” and that it could “look really bad for President Trump if he endorses him.” Rep. Shelley Luther, a rural Republican from Grayson County, said her constituents would be disappointed and put it in blunt terms: “They’d be like, ‘He’s out of touch with what Texans want.’”
While some Republicans pressed for Trump to consider Paxton, Cornyn also sought to demonstrate alignment with Trump’s legislative priorities. The senator tried to link himself to Trump’s agenda by reversing his position on Senate filibuster rules, the AP reported, saying he would support changing the rules to pass the SAVE America Act, which Trump has described as a top priority. Under the legislation, the measure would require voters to prove their citizenship when registering. Cornyn wrote in a New York Post op-ed that he supported “whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary” so the bill could be “through the Senate and on the president’s desk for his signature.”
Paxton, by contrast, played for Trump’s favor on the issue earlier, AP reported, saying nearly a week before that he would be willing to drop out of the race if the Senate passed the measure. At the time of the AP report, the bill was stalled because there were not enough votes to overcome the filibuster, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune did not want to change the rules.
Cornyn’s campaign and Paxton’s allies were also preparing for what AP described as a race likely to grow uglier and more expensive. Cornyn’s team began airing its first television advertisement of the runoff campaign with a Christian-themed spot that quotes “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” set to images of churches and the Bible. The advertisement referenced Paxton’s wife’s accusation that he committed infidelity, and the campaign was spending $330,000 for the opening round, according to AP.
Cornyn, elected in 2002, entered the runoff with a history that some supporters and critics say illustrates the split between traditional Republicans and Trump-aligned conservatives. AP reported that Cornyn has at times been dismissive of Trump, including saying in 2023 that Trump’s “time has passed,” and calling Trump’s proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall “naive” early on. Cornyn also helped pass gun-control legislation after the 2022 Uvalde school shooting, according to AP.
Other Texas Republicans defending Cornyn argued the endorsement question can be separated from MAGA signaling. Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth said he hoped Trump would “support an honorable senator who has represented Texas very well, as opposed to a crook and a liar.” Rep. Matt Shaheen of Plano said Cornyn has conservative credentials, including as a reliable opponent of abortion rights, and also argued he could be more broadly electable. “John Cornyn is the only person who can beat James Talarico,” Shaheen said, adding, “And I believe the president understands that.”
Paxton’s campaign showed no indication of stepping aside, AP reported, and he planned to speak at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Dallas.