PLANO, Texas (AP) — Texans are choosing a Republican nominee forU.S. Senatein Tuesday’srunoff election, bringing to a close the extended, bitter and expensive primary where President DonaldTrump weighed inlate to tip the race in another effort to rid the GOP of leaders he sees as less devoted to him.
Trump's endorsement of state Attorney GeneralKen Paxtonover four-term Sen.John Cornyngives the challenger a late boost and puts Cornyn at risk of becoming the first Republican senator in Texas history to seek the party's nod and lose.
That's despite Cornyn's campaign and allied groups spending roughly $90 million in advertising since last year, the vast majority of it attacking Paxton.
It's the latest GOP contest where Trump has sought to punish a Republican he sees as insufficiently loyal. This month, he has successfully backed challengers to incumbents inLouisiana,KentuckyandIndiana, a sign of his enduring influence among primary voters.
Paxton's campaign and a pro-Paxton super PAC began airing ads promoting the endorsement within 24 hours of Trump's announcement. Cornyn acknowledged Trump's move would have an impact but said he wasn't giving up.
“I know who gets to choose our senators, and it’s the people of Texas,” he said hours after the endorsement.
The winner will run in November against Democratic state Rep.James Talarico.
Tuesday's runoffs also will decide DemocraticU.S. House nomineesfor districts in Dallas and Houston that overwhelmingly support Democrats, and a San Antonio-area seat the party hopes to flip.
The primary has been long, bitter and costly
Cornyn led Paxton inthe March primarybut failed to win a majority in the three-way contest that also included U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, who finished a distant third.
That was after Cornyn's campaign and allied groups waged a monthslong ad campaign, mostly attacking Paxton over ethical and personal questions. The two-term attorney general wasacquitted in a 2023 impeachment trialwhen allegations of extramarital affairs surfaced. Last year, Paxton’s wife filed for divorce, citing “biblical grounds.”
The alliance of pro-Cornyn groups has continued its attack, outspending Paxton's campaign and two allied super PACs $16.5 million to $5.9 million since March 3, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.
Trump promised to endorse immediately after the primary, asking the unchosen candidate to withdraw. But he didn't act until after early voting began on May 18.
“Ken Paxton has gone through a lot, in many cases, very unfairly, but he is a Fighter, and knows how to win,” Trump wrote in a social media post endorsing him. “Our Country needs Fighters, and also Loyalty to the Cause of Greatness.”
Pro-Cornyn groups lately have been airing ads criticizing the attorney general's office’s handling of a Waco sexual abuse case. The senator also argues that Paxton's “baggage” would be a liability in the general election against Talarico. Pro-Paxton groups had seized on Cornyn’s awkward relationship with Trump.
Trump snubs Cornyn amid retribution campaign
The negative tenor could diminish turnout in an election already complicated by coming the day after Memorial Day, Texas Republican strategist Tyler Norris said. About 2 million of Texas’ 18.7 million voters participated in the GOP primary.
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The dynamic could favor Paxton, whose support draws from more of the most loyal Trump base in Texas, said Norris, who isn't affiliated with either campaign.
“The defining battle lines are based around hyper-negative messaging, which dampens turnout to begin with,” he said. “So who is going to show up is the hardest of the hard core.”
Trump, in his endorsement, also poked at Cornyn, as he has done with other Republicans who are not in lockstep with the president.
He blasted Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana as “a Disloyal Disaster” on May 16, before Cassidy lost a GOP primary for the office he has held since 2015. The two-term senator had voted to convict Trump after his 2021 impeachment trial over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Last week, Trump celebrated as Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a critic of the Trump administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, lost his primary to Ed Gallrein, who Trump backed. The president called Massie “the worst congressman in the history of our country.”
In endorsing Paxton, Trump said Cornyn “was not supportive of me when times were tough” and that “John was very late in backing me.”
Cornyn suggested in 2023 that Trump could not win the presidency again in 2024 and that his “time has passed him by.” He also was an early critic ofTrump’s plan for a border wallbetween the U.S. and Mexico — a project he now supports.
Cornyn said Tuesday on Fox News Radio's “The Brian Kilmeade Show” that the president's ire was misplaced. There are “grifters," he said, "claiming that I am opposed to the president's agenda, and I think that’s caused some confusion with the president himself. But I’ve been supportive.”
Senate GOP leaders backed Cornyn, saying he would be stronger in the general election. Some GOP strategists have argued that a Paxton nomination would cost millions of dollars more to promote in the fall, when money could be spent defending Republican seats in more competitive states. Democrats need to gain a net of four seats to take the majority.
Democrats also will choose US House nominees
Newly electedRep. Christian Menefeeand veteran Rep. Al Green arevying for the party nodin Texas' 18th District, which the Republican-led Texas Legislature redrew last year to help the GOP. The new map led to a contest between incumbents and marks the end of adizzying series of electionsin the Houston area. Menefee was elected in a special runoff in January to the seat that had been held by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in March 2025.
Menefee finished narrowly ahead of Green in the March 3 primary but didn't win a majority to avoid the runoff.
Former Rep. Colin Allred and U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson are competing in the Dallas-area 33rd District. Johnson was elected to the seat in 2024, the year Allred lost his U.S. Senate challenge to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred was running for Senate again this cycle butdropped his bidand instead is looking to return to the House.
Near San Antonio, Democratic leaders are trying toprevent Maureen Galindo, who has expressed antisemitic views, from winning the party's runoff with Johnny Garcia. While Texas lawmakers redrew the 35th District to help Republicans, Democrats view it as within reach and don't want Galindo's past comments to impede them.
Bedayn reported from Austin, Texas.
