{"id":201812,"date":"2026-02-27T21:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trumps-takeover-of-the-gop-upends-texas-senate-race-and-threatens-john-cornyns-seat-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T21:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T21:41:10","slug":"trumps-takeover-of-the-gop-upends-texas-senate-race-and-threatens-john-cornyns-seat-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trumps-takeover-of-the-gop-upends-texas-senate-race-and-threatens-john-cornyns-seat-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump's takeover of the GOP upends Texas Senate race and threatens John Cornyn's seat – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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MAGNOLIA, Texas \u2014 Unlike many of the Texans packed into the Angry Elephant last week, Phillip Mori wasn\u2019t completely sold on Senate candidate and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Mori, a 64-year-old mortgage banker and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, came to the Republican-themed bar hoping to hear Paxton talk about how he would address border security. Paxton laid out the case for his primary challenge against GOP Sen. John Cornyn and his experience taking on Democratic presidents as attorney general, but Mori thought he focused too much on the past.
Even so, Mori still said he\u2019d likely be voting for Paxton by \u201cdefault\u201d in Tuesday\u2019s primary. He feels that he cannot support Cornyn, who \u201cseems like he\u2019s conservative when it\u2019s time to run for office,\u201d Mori said.
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of people that wear the name Republican [who] are more Bush-era people and Romney people than they are out for America First,\u201d said Mori, noting that he counts Cornyn among those Republican relics.
Voters like Mori are making Cornyn\u2019s primary the toughest fight of his political career. And even though Trump remains neutral in the primary, the dynamics underscore the practical effects of the GOP\u2019s transformation in Trump\u2019s image over the last decade, with Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d movement elevating more combative and bombastic candidates.
These include Paxton, who beat back an impeachment push in 2023 and whose supporters are quick to liken him to Trump. Those supporting Paxton question Cornyn\u2019s conservative credentials and say they don\u2019t view him as a true MAGA believer \u2014 and plenty of rank-and-file Republicans agree, according to conversations with roughly two dozen voters in recent days. And a third primary candidate, Rep. Wesley Hunt, has positioned himself as a \u201cbridge\u201d to the next generation of MAGA candidates.
Cornyn and his allies, meanwhile, have already spent tens of millions touting his support for Trump\u2019s policies. He has warned that Paxton could put the Texas Senate seat and state congressional battlegrounds in danger.<\/a>
But that hasn\u2019t convinced Trump to jump into the race. The president said earlier this month that he supports \u201call three\u201d contenders. And a source familiar with Trump\u2019s thinking about the contest said he is unlikely to endorse a candidate in a primary runoff. If no candidate wins a majority of the primary vote on Tuesday, the top two vote-getters advance to a primary runoff on May 26.
The person said that Trump makes endorsement decisions based on a number of factors, including electability, his personal connection with the candidate, loyalty and a gut feeling. And in this case, Trump\u2019s gut feeling is off, and he is inclined to stay out of the race.
\u201cThe president knows he can trust me to be there to support him and his agenda, and I appreciate that. But it\u2019s going to be up to him to make that call,\u201d Cornyn told reporters after a campaign event in Austin last week when asked if it was a mistake for Trump to stay out of the race.
\u201cI think he kind of likes a good fight, and he\u2019s going to see one right here in Texas,\u201d Cornyn said.
Cornyn, Hunt and Paxton will all be at Trump\u2019s event in Corpus Christi on Friday, according to sources familiar with their plans.
Recent public surveys<\/a> have suggested that Paxton is likely to advance to a runoff, with him running in first place in most available polling. Cornyn and Hunt are competing for that second spot, although the senator and his allies are confident he will advance, particularly as Hunt has faced a barrage of attack ads from outside groups.
Cornyn and allied outside groups have been blanketing the airwaves for months, spending nearly $70 million on ads so far, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. That\u2019s more than three times what the other campaigns and outside groups have spent on ads combined.
A recent TV ad<\/a> from a group tied to Cornyn\u2019s campaign describes Cornyn as \u201ctough as nails on illegal immigration\u201d and notes he \u201cvotes with Trump 99% of the time.\u201d Another TV ad<\/a>, from Texans for a Conservative Majority, a super PAC backing Cornyn, knocks Hunt for missing House votes and says Cornyn is \u201cthe man President Trump can trust.\u201d
Cornyn, 74, was first elected statewide in Texas in 1990, and he\u2019s been dogged by some of his past comments about Trump. These include 2023 comments that Trump\u2019s \u201ctime has passed him by,\u201d<\/a> suggesting Trump was not the most electable presidential candidate in 2024, and that the criminal charges alleging <\/strong>that Trump mishandled classified documents were \u201cvery serious.\u201d<\/a>
Although Cornyn has cast himself as a Trump ally, he acknowledged on the campaign trail that he keeps a lower profile than some of his flame-throwing colleagues in the nation\u2019s capital.
\u201cSen. Phil Gramm said I was a workhorse, not a show horse,\u201d Cornyn said at the campaign stop in Austin, referring to his predecessor.
\u201cKind of hurts my feelings,\u201d Cornyn joked. \u201cI can live with that. I can live with being a workhorse and not a show horse. We got too many show horses in Washington, D.C. We need candidates who can produce results.\u201d
That \u201cworkhorse\u201d mentality certainly appeals to Cornyn\u2019s supporters.
\u201cHe\u2019s a proven winner. He\u2019s experienced, intelligent, a man of great character. He\u2019s always done a great job for Texas,\u201d said Robert Dieter, an 80-year-old retired attorney who attended Cornyn\u2019s event at Serranos Cocina y Cantina in Austin.
\u201cI think the Democrats are going to come hard at this election, and Republicans can\u2019t afford to take a chance on someone else,\u201d Dieter said.
Cornyn\u2019s supporters have also been drawn to the incumbent because they have issues with the other candidates in the race, particularly Paxton, who was impeached in 2023 on bribery and corruption charges and whose wife filed for divorce<\/a> \u201con biblical grounds.\u201d Paxton was acquitted by the state Senate<\/a>.
Cornyn has been hammering at Paxton\u2019s controversies on the campaign trail and on the airwaves, recently launching an ad<\/a> describing \u201cdirty deeds from crooked Ken\u201d and highlighting his divorce and other issues.
Paxton released his own ad<\/a> that features his daughter saying her father is \u201ca really good guy, loves God, loves his family and loves his country.\u201d His daughter also authored an op-ed<\/a>, writing: \u201cWhen his opponent can\u2019t win on policy, he goes after character. But anyone who has spent real time with my dad knows that the attacks bear no resemblance to the man they claim to describe.\u201d
But Paxton\u2019s critics say they are concerned about his character.
\u201cThere\u2019s a moral concern that I can\u2019t reconcile,\u201d said James Witherow, a Cornyn supporter who attended the senator\u2019s event at the Forth Worth Police Association last week. If Paxton is the nominee, Witherow said, \u201cIt means I\u2019d have to leave another blank.\u201d
Voters like Witherow are why Cornyn has been sounding the alarm that his Senate seat would be at risk if Paxton is the party\u2019s nominee. Cornyn has pitched himself as a safer bet, having won a fourth term in 2020 by 10 points, outperforming Trump\u2019s 6-point win in Texas that year.
A Paxton candidacy, Cornyn warned last week, would amount to \u201can Election Day massacre\u201d for Republicans.
Paxton doesn\u2019t buy that he would be a drag on other Republican candidates.
\u201cSince I started running, I\u2019ve been victorious. Trump went through the very same thing. Look where he\u2019s at. It\u2019s going to be the same way for me. We overcame all of them. You can make up whatever you want to make up. But the allegations are the allegations, and the truth is the truth,\u201d Paxton told reporters at the Angry Elephant.
Chris Jakubson, who voted for Paxton at a polling place in Magnolia last week, said he was supporting the attorney general because \u201che\u2019s more aggressive. He doesn\u2019t take any crap from anybody. And his reputation is not the best, but I still think he was very effective as attorney general.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like Trump,\u201d added Jakubson, who said his wife, Julie, also voted for Paxton. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t like him, but he gets stuff done.\u201d
And Paxton\u2019s supporters are set in their opposition to Cornyn, with several saying that they would continue to back Paxton even if Trump weighs in for the senator.
Sharon Burgoon of Montgomery said after casting an early ballot for Paxton in Magnolia that she would not change her mind if Trump backs Cornyn, whom she described as \u201cwishy-washy,\u201d while describing Paxton as \u201ca bulldog.\u201d
But Kim Sheets, also from Montgomery, said Trump\u2019s endorsement would sway her toward Cornyn despite her vote for Paxton last week, since it would signal whom Trump wants on his team.
\u201cTrump has an agenda, and we like his agenda. \u2026 And I\u2019d want to know that the team is going to work together to accomplish the agenda,\u201d Sheets said.
Trump\u2019s decision to stay neutral in the race has kept it competitive and left the door open for Cornyn\u2019s challengers. including Hunt, the two-term congressman who officially launched his Senate campaign in October.
\u201cI gave deference to the White House,\u201d Hunt told a group of around 30 Republicans gathered at the Smith County GOP office in Tyler last week. \u201cAnd if they would have weighed in on this race, then I\u2019d have stayed in the House. \u2026 I will never disclose my conversations I\u2019ve had with the White House or the president, but please know that I would never have gotten in this race if the president told me not to.\u201d
The 44-year-old congressman pitched himself as a \u201cbridge\u201d to the next generation of MAGA candidates. He slammed Cornyn as a \u201cBush RINO,\u201d or \u201cRepublican in name only,\u201d pointing to Cornyn\u2019s work on a bipartisan gun bill <\/a>in the wake of multiple mass shootings, including one at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school. Hunt\u2019s case against Paxton, who is 63 years old, is largely based on age and his claim that Paxton is \u201ca career politician.\u201d
Hunt is facing attacks from groups backing both Paxton and Cornyn, which he says is a sign that he could make the runoff. But some did say they were bothered by the campaign ads pointing out that Hunt has missed a slew of votes in Congress.
Hunt has said he missed votes for his child\u2019s birth, his role as a Trump campaign surrogate and his Senate campaign.
If Hunt doesn\u2019t make the runoff, the question becomes where his supporters go. Some could back Paxton, like Chris Drake, who left the Smith County GOP meeting with a Hunt campaign sign. Drake, who noted he volunteered for Cornyn\u2019s first Senate campaign in 2002, said Cornyn\u2019s work on the gun measure was proof he \u201clost touch with what the conservative voters want in Texas.\u201d
The 46-year-old mortgage company owner was drawn to Hunt in part because of Hunt\u2019s willingness to openly discuss his Christian faith, and he said he was concerned about Paxton\u2019s divorce. But Drake said he would ultimately support Paxton in a runoff if he had to choose between the attorney general and Cornyn.
\u201cI think it\u2019s time for a change,\u201d Drake said.
Bridget Bowman is a national political reporter for NBC News.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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BREAKING: Trump bans Anthropic from government use after AI giant denied Pentagon unrestricted military use news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeMAGNOLIA, Texas \u2014 Unlike many of the Texans packed into the Angry Elephant last week, Phillip Mori wasn\u2019t completely sold on Senate candidate and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.Mori, a 64-year-old mortgage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":201813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-201812","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}