The Texas primary is fast approaching, and the Republican Party is now scrambling, worried that President Donald Trump is going to hurt their plot for a hostile takeover.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that all three-way primary races are likely to head to runoffs after Tuesday's election. The infighting with so many candidates on the ballot is even more prominent in the U.S. Senate race, where Trump hasn't endorsed a candidate. Sen. John Cornyn is vying for his fifth term, while Attorney General Ken Paxton is fighting for his own federal gig.
"The race has turned personal and hostile, with a Cornyn-affiliated group running a TV ad that focuses on Paxton’s increased personal wealth while in office and his contentious divorce," the report said. "The ad calls Paxton a 'fraud,' highlights infidelity allegations raised during his divorce and says he is now 'wrecking another home, sleeping around with a married mother.'"
Paxton currently leads in the polls, despite his 2023 impeachment on bribery and misuse-of-office charges to aid a political donor. He continues to deny the allegations.
Trump is waiting on an endorsement, one person familiar with his thinking told the Journal. He wants to see how things look in the runoff, meaning he isn't likely to endorse for the primary race.
The one problem the GOP faces is that having Paxton at the top of the ticket gives Democrats the best chance they've had in decades of winning a seat in the state.
“Paxton puts the seat at risk,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) said in a February memo. Their internal polling showed that “Cornyn is the only Republican candidate who reliably wins a general election matchup” against both Democratic contenders.
The report explained that Tuesday will be a major indicator of both parties' attitudes, particularly amid a new war in the Middle East. For the GOP, the Journal said that it's a test of whether the GOP primary voters are still ruled by MAGA.
Paxton touts himself as the MAGA warrior willing to take a chance on a long-shot 2020 election case to fight Trump's loss. Cornyn, the Journal noted, has a voting record consistent with the president, despite what could be seen as deliberate caution. The third option is U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a long shot, who has campaigned with Trump over the years and has never run statewide before.
Democrats are resistant to spending any money in the state, but if Paxton is the GOP nominee and Rep. James Talarico is the Democratic nominee, "those plans might change," the report said.
