Democratic Texas State Rep. James Talarico said he would “absolutely” be open to an endorsement from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in Talarico’s Senate bid against Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“I’m running for his seat in the U.S. Senate, and you know, whether he endorses me or not, I will seek his counsel,” Talarico told MS Now on Monday. “I will seek his guidance in doing this big, important job.”
Cornyn has yet to throw his weight behind his party’s own nominee after he and Paxton duked it out in a bruising primary and then a runoff this spring. Cornyn had narrowly taken the edge over Paxton in the general primary, winning the first spot in the runoff by just 1.5 percentage points. But after President Donald Trump officially backed Paxton, Cornyn lost to his primary challenger in the runoff by 27.6 percentage points.
So far in the general election race, the four-term, ousted incumbent seems unlikely to enthusiastically endorse Paxton over Talarico, committing not to campaign for Paxton in June and calling the state attorney general a “poor campaigner” and “lazy” in August.
In June, Cornyn told the Washington Examiner that he would still vote for Paxton, saying he would still “support the ticket.”
Paxton’s candidacy has prompted a near all-hands-on-deck approach from national Republicans, with Texas PAC, a group tied to Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-SD) Senate Leadership Fund, having thrown nearly $120 million behind Paxton’s general election bid so far. Although Thune had initially endorsed Cornyn in the primary, Cornyn has stayed the course and maintained that he will not use his funds or resources to campaign for Paxton.
“I think the risk for Republicans is if we nominate flawed candidates in November, we risk losing,” Cornyn told CNN last week. “We haven’t elected a Democrat in Texas statewide since, well, before 1994, and this is the way that majority parties become minority parties: by nominating candidates that are less than appealing to a general election electorate.”
CENTRISTS WARN PUSHING PAXTON OVER CORNYN WAS MISTAKE AS TALARICO SUSTAINS LEAD
Recent polls in the general election have shown Talarico leading by narrow margins, with one poll from September showing an even split. The Cook Political Report lists the race, in a state with two GOP senators that Trump won in all three of his presidential races, as a toss-up. In 2024, Trump defeated former Vice President Kamala Harris by nearly 14 percentage points in Texas.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to both Paxton’s and Cornyn’s teams for comment.