Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to remain in the race for the Republican Senate nomination even if President Trump endorses Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
“I’m staying in this race. I owe it to the people of Texas,” Paxton said in an interview.
“I’ve spent a year of my life campaigning against John Cornyn because John has not represented the people of Texas well,” he continued.
Watch below:
🚨 WOW! Ken Paxton says he is STAYING IN THE RACE even if Trump endorses Cornyn
“I'm staying in this race. I owe it to the people of Texas… John has NOT represented the people of Texas well… [Cornyn’s] been against Trump in BOTH of his elections!”
KEEP PUSHING, @KenPaxtonTX! pic.twitter.com/Xv4kqd2P1f
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) March 5, 2026
Fox News shared further:
A Republican operative in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News Digital it’s expected Cornyn will get the president’s endorsement. However, the president has been known to change his mind on candidates or even reverse endorsements.
A second source in Trump’s political orbit told Fox News that while there’s still jockeying to influence the president’s decision, given Cornyn’s better-than-expected performance in the primary, Trump is expected to back the senator and prevent a messy and expensive runoff.
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“The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas, a State I LOVE and won 3 times in Record Numbers (the HIGHEST vote ever recorded, by far!!!), cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer. IT MUST STOP NOW! We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively!” President Trump said.
“Both John and Ken ran great races, but not good enough. Now, this one, must be PERFECT! My Endorsements within the Republican Party have been virtually insurmountable! It is such an honor to realize and say that almost everyone I Endorse WINS, and wins by a lot, especially in Texas! I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE! Is that fair? We must win in November!!!” he added.
More from The Texas Tribune:
Texas Republicans are in for another three months of mudslinging between Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn after the two bitter rivals advanced to a May 26 runoff in Tuesday’s primary.
The two rivals are neck-and-neck with much of the Election Day vote yet to be reported. The Associated Press declared before 10 p.m. that the two would make the runoff.
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a second-term Houston congressman who entered the race in October, finished in a distant third. Hunt saw a deluge of spending against him from PACs affiliated with both Cornyn and Paxton’s campaign in the final weeks of the race, as both campaigns sought to lock him out of the runoff and increase their own ballot share by diminishing his.
Hunt had to give up his House seat in order to run for Senate, bringing this chapter of his political career to a close for now.
While polling and operatives in both camps anticipated a Paxton-Cornyn runoff matchup, the narrow margin indicates that the level of spending and viciousness, already high on both accounts, will only increase.
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