Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, unseating veteran Sen. John Cornyn in a bitter primary runoff that highlighted President Donald Trump’s enduring influence over the conservative grassroots base.
The Associated Press called the race shortly after polls closed, revealing a substantial margin for Paxton. The victory marks a major milestone for the populist wing of the state’s Republican Party, which has constantly worked to displace institutional figures. Cornyn, a prominent lawmaker who had won 18 consecutive campaigns throughout his career in Texas public service, conceded the race after the results became clear.
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The contentious primary battle transformed into a high-stakes ballot on party loyalty. Cornyn had long maintained a reliable conservative voting record in Washington, but he drew the ire of Trump loyalists after casting doubts on the former president’s electability in 2023. Trump solidified Paxton’s momentum with an endorsement one week before the runoff, praising him as a warrior for the movement.
The victory comes despite the significant political and legal controversies that have followed Paxton for years. The 63-year-old attorney general survived a 2023 impeachment trial by the Republican-led Texas House and resolved long-standing felony securities fraud charges through a 2024 pre-trial diversion agreement. Throughout his campaign, Paxton successfully framed these challenges as politically motivated attacks by establishment opponents, a message that resonated deeply with low-turnout runoff voters.
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For national Republican strategists, the result introduces new financial and electoral calculations. Cornyn was one of the party’s most prolific fundraisers and an institutional pillar in Washington since his election to the Senate in 2002. With Paxton now leading the ticket, national groups face the prospect of spending heavily to defend a seat that has remained firmly in Republican hands since 1993.
Paxton will advance to the November general election to face Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state legislator and pastor who has built a competitive campaign fund. While Texas has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, political analysts note that the general election matchup will test whether moderate and independent voters are alienated by the hard-right shift, or if the conservative stronghold will hold firm.