When Ken Paxton announced his bid to unseat John Cornyn from his Senate seat, few were surprised. Paxton has worked to craft an image of Cornyn as an establishm
When Ken Paxton announced his bid to unseat John Cornyn from his Senate seat, few were surprised. Paxton has worked to craft an image of Cornyn as an establishment Republican, while portraying himself as a disrupter.
The race for the Republican nomination, itself, is a bit more complicated than that. When Ken Paxton announced his bid to unseat John Cornyn from his Senate seat, few were surprised. Paxton has worked to craft an image of Cornyn as an establishment Republican while portraying himself as a disrupter. The race for the Republican nomination itself is a bit more complicated than that. Cornyn's team has immediately pointed to his voting record, writing in a statement that Cornyn "voted with President Trump more than 95% of current Senators." Paxton, in his campaign announcement on Fox News Tuesday night, noted that another term for Cornyn will mean that Cornyn's Senate years will total 30 years. "It's definitely time for a change in Texas," Paxton said. "We have another great U.S. Senator, Ted Cruz, and it's time we have another great senator that will actually stand up and fight for Republican values and fight for the values of the people of Texas." "We're already seeing some very interesting cross currents that underline that this is a little more complicated than that," James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project, said. "It's not as if conservative donors and conservative funders in the Republican Party based in Texas have not been supportive of John Cornyn in the in the past and have not considered him a good U.S. Senator for their interests."Paxton is also challenging Cornyn in a midterm election. The last midterm in which Donald Trump was President resulted in a dramatic shift to the left in Congress, with Democrats gaining 40 seats in the House of Representatives. A repeat in attitudes, particularly among moderates, could spell trouble for Paxton. Though the Republican primary in 2026 will be determined by just that—Republicans—moderates could play a significant role if their distaste for one of the candidates over the other is decisive. Though polling shows Democrats strongly dislike both candidates, Paxton is the more polarizing of the two candidates, albeit marginally so, and Democrats could campaign on that. "I think it's still a little early, but I expect in the next few weeks that a Democratic candidate or candidates will announce any prospect," Representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, told CBS Austin. "You know, I certainly have policy differences with Senator Cornyn, but he's at least someone who puts Texas first. And I think Ken Paxton, who was here to cheer on the January 6th insurrectionists who attempted to overthrow the government and did such violence at the Capitol, is someone that I can't imagine representing the state of Texas here in Washington." Cornyn, in turn, has put his ire in the allegations against Paxton that ultimately resulted in the impeachment of the Texas Attorney General. Calling Paxton "a conman and a fraud," Cornyn said he was "not going to turn over the Senate seat that was once held by Sam Houston to somebody like him."
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