Senate Republicans made little effort to hide their disappointment Tuesday with President Donald Trump‘s decision to endorse Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
GOP lawmakers were quick to relitigate Paxton’s political baggage and warned that the president may have just cost himself a winnable Senate seat by snubbing Cornyn. The two are locked in a bitter fight for the GOP nomination that will be decided in a May 26 runoff.
“If Paxton wins the primary, we’ll be for him. But you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the pathway for Paxton is there, but it’s more uphill and it will cost more,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a Trump ally who estimated it would cost Republicans three times more in the general election if Paxton prevails later this month.
In a lengthy statement, Trump emphasized Paxton’s loyalty and Cornyn’s past criticism of him to explain why he decided to take sides in the primary. In doing so, he ignored a lobbying blitz from Senate Republicans focused on Paxton’s ethics scandals and polling showing him to be the weaker general election candidate.
Cornyn had been in a dead heat with Paxton as early voting got underway on Monday, and Cornyn came out slightly ahead when the two ran against each other in the March primary. But the Trump endorsement is expected to tilt the scales in Paxton’s favor, setting off a wave of upset from Republicans who believe the seat is now in play for Democrats.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who survived a Trump-backed challenger in her 2022 reelection campaign, called the Paxton endorsement “supremely disappointing” and predicted that Republicans could lose Texas, a red state, as a result.
“And how does that strengthen the president’s hand, when we lose a seat like Texas?” Murkowski said.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), one of the most endangered Senate Republicans running in November, called Paxton an “ethically challenged individual,” alluding to infidelity and corruption allegations that were at the center of his 2023 impeachment by the Texas House. Paxton was later acquitted by the state Senate.
“John Cornyn is an outstanding senator and deserved, in my judgment, the president’s support,” Collins said. “Obviously, it’s the president’s call, but I’m disappointed that he did that.”
The warnings come as polling shows state Rep. James Talarico, Texas Democrats’ nominee for Senate, virtually tied with both Cornyn and Paxton in the general election. Talarico is 1.5 points ahead of Paxton, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average, and half a point ahead of Cornyn.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) tried to tamp down the idea that Trump might cost Republicans this fall, telling reporters on Tuesday they had the candidates, resources, and message to keep and possibly grow their three-seat majority.
But Thune was visibly frustrated by Trump’s decision after months spent trying to convince him to support Cornyn’s reelection. National Republicans also invested heavily to help Cornyn advance to the May runoff.
“None of us control what the president does,” Thune said. “He made his decision about that — that doesn’t change the way I feel, and I will continue to be supportive of Sen. Cornyn and his reelection.”
Cornyn has previously been critical of Trump and urged the party to move past the president before he was reelected in 2024. More recently, Cornyn has tried to curry Trump’s favor in the hope that he will at least stay neutral in his race, going so far as to abandon his support for the filibuster and introducing a bill to name a highway after Trump. Those attempts ultimately fell flat, however, as Trump argued that Cornyn was not there for him when “times were tough.”
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Addressing the endorsement, Vice President JD Vance said that Trump’s decision should serve as an example to the rest of the party. His Paxton endorsement came days after the president successfully helped oust another of Thune’s incumbents, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
“You have got to serve the people who sent you,” Vance said. “And if you don’t do that, you’re going to find yourself out of step with voters or out of step with the president of the United States, and that’s not a good place to be politically.”