With one week to go before Election Day and early voting already underway, President Donald Trump has made a long-awaited endorsement in Texas' Republican primary runoff for the U.S. Senate.
Trump on Tuesday backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is challenging incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in what has been described as a "bitter" campaign.
“I know Ken well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a WINNER!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The endorsement has the potential to sway voters in what has been an extremely close contest so far.
According to a poll conducted by Slingshot Strategies on behalf of Texas Public Opinion Research last month, a Trump endorsement of Paxton would widen the attorney general's lead over Cornyn to an overwhelming 55% to 35%, while a Trump endorsement of Cornyn would still leave the incumbent senator trailing Paxton by 45% to 42%.
In a statement Tuesday, Paxton welcomed the endorsement and praised the president.
“No one has fought harder for the American people than President Trump, and I look forward to championing his America First agenda in the Senate,” Paxton said. “I have consistently stood by President Trump, even when the Washington establishment and career politicians like John Cornyn turned their back on the President. Now, I look forward to winning this critical Senate seat and delivering victory after victory for the people of Texas."
The announcement caps months of uncertainty. Trump had teased his intention to endorse a candidate in the election repeatedly, starting soon after Cornyn and Paxton emerged as the remaining contenders from the first round of the primary in March.
As recently as last Friday, Trump told a press gaggle aboard Air Force One that he might soon weigh in, attacking Austin state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, as “weird.”
A poll released this week by Texas Southern University's Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center indicated that, in hypothetical general election matchups in November, Paxton and Cornyn are both in statistical dead heats against Talarico.
"As I said on primary night, it doesn't matter who wins this runoff,” Talarico said in a statement Tuesday. “We already know who we're running against: the billionaire mega-donors and their corrupt political system.”
Cornyn edged out Paxton in the first round of the primary in March, but he failed to garner more than 50% of the vote, the threshold for avoiding a runoff. That was in part due to a spoiler campaign by Houston-area U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.
Attack ads in the Republican Senate contest have reached a fever pitch over the past few weeks. Commercials for Cornyn have highlighted Paxton’s alleged corruption in office — for which he was impeached but not convicted — as well as his marital infidelity and ongoing divorce from state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, as evidence he is not worthy of the party's nomination.
Commercials for Paxton have accused Cornyn of lackluster support for Trump, weakness on border security and immigration, and fostering ties with groups promoting “radical Islamic terror,” despite Cornyn’s promoting legislation to crack down on Muslim immigration.
Mark Jones, a political science fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, previously told Houston Public Media that, even with Trump's endorsement, the bitterness between the Cornyn and Paxton camps could linger for months, potentially making it difficult for the party to unite behind the primary runoff winner as he takes on Talarico in the fall.
Early voting in the primary runoff began Monday and continues through Friday. Election Day is next Tuesday, May 26.
Copyright 2026 Houston Public Media News 88.7