John Cornyn And Ken Paxton Fight Dirty Over US Senate Seat

The Republican Party seems to be getting a bit stressed over the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, as the Trump administration and the MAGA brand become increasingly unpopular, and the political landscape continues to point toward another blue wave in November. In Texas, the GOP is grappling with the possibility of losing an important Senate seat due to a particularly contentious Republican primary battle that might be headed toward a very expensive run-off election in a race that is already setting spending records.

From Politico:

Sen. John Cornyn appears to be headed to an expensive and nasty 10-week runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, with a strong chance that Paxton wins the nomination even after national Republicans spent months airing his dirty laundry all over the Texas airwaves in an effort to boost Cornyn.

“Honestly, if you look at the polling in a general election setting, I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that the seat [flips], depending on who the Democrats nominate,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, when asked about the possibility that Republicans could lose the race if Cornyn, who he endorsed, is not the party’s nominee.

If Cornyn loses the primary, Senate Republicans worry they could be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars that could otherwise go toward key battleground races in expensive states like North Carolina, Georgia or Michigan, complicating their path toward holding Senate control.

Republicans have already spent nearly $100 million on TV advertising in the primary, which also includes Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), according to data from AdImpact.

A Feb. 3 poll by JL Partners indicates a three-way tie between Paxton, Cornyn, and Hunt. Cornyn seems to be largely focused on shutting down Paxton, launching new ads this week, with support from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, ripping Paxton for cheating on his wife, as well as other scandals that have followed the Texas AG for years. (Because the wife thing alone wouldn’t have worked. Are they even aware who our current president is?)

“It’s voting time, so let’s cut through the bullsh-t. Crooked Ken Paxton cheated on his wife. She’s divorcing him on biblical grounds. So now Paxton’s wrecking another home, sleeping around with a married mother of seven,” Cornyn says in one of his anti-Paxton ads. “And remember this, Crooked Ken has increased his net worth by as much as 7,000% since taking office. And his actions in office? Even more troubling. Paxton gave millions of Texas tax dollars to left-wing organizations, including the Montrose Center that hosts drag queen shows and performs gender affirming services to kids as young as seven.”

As usual, Republicans are out here trying to out-MAGA each other to win the affections of their MAGA-fied base. Of course, Paxton is so insufferably MAGA that he stupidly tried to sue Tylenol’s manufacturer because he believed RFK Jr.’s pseudo-scientific nonsense about the medicine causing autism.

“All signs indicate that Paxton probably finishes first,” a Washington GOP operative close to Cornyn, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the race, told Politico. “We’re just hoping the gap is close enough the narrative isn’t ‘Paxton kicked the crap out of Cornyn.’”

Texas Republicans, and the GOP in general, had already been grappling with the way their gerrymandering games have backfired on them politically, so all of this vicious infighting probably isn’t helping them feel more confident about the party’s ability to continue having control over the U.S. government.

Democrats, of course, shouldn’t be getting too comfortable, though. We’re still nearly nine months away from the midterms. Stay vigilant, my friends.

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