Cornyn, Paxton heading to a runoff in Texas GOP Senate primary

The Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Texas is heading to a runoff between four-term incumbent John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to a projection Tuesday by The Associated Press. The five-way primary that also featured U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt appeared likely to end with no candidate surpassing 50% of the vote. 

With about 60% of ballots counted late Tuesday, Cornyn had just short of 43% of the vote, good to put him about 2 points ahead of Paxton. They’ll advance to a runoff in May.

Hunt ran a distant third.

Tuesday’s outcome is likely to not be received well by Republicans in Washington, who had hoped to have the election settled as they seek to hold on to their majority in November.

This year’s primary presented Cornyn, who cruised to victory with 76% of his party’s vote in 2020, with the most serious electoral threat he had faced in his more than two decades in the Senate. The longtime senator’s race was upended when Paxton threw his hat into the ring last April. 

The attorney general’s competitiveness surprised some. For years, Paxton has been embroiled in political scandals. In 2023, he was impeached over allegations that he took bribes and abused his office. He was later acquitted by the GOP-controlled Texas Senate.

Last year, a decade-long felony securities fraud case against Paxton was dropped after he successfully completed a pretrial diversion program.

Paxton’s personal life has also been thrust into the spotlight. In July, his wife of almost four decades, Republican Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, took to social media to announce she was filing for divorce on “biblical grounds,” citing “recent discoveries.” Her announcement came after years of allegations that her husband had been unfaithful.

While Donald Trump’s presence loomed large over the contest, the president declined to endorse any of the top three candidates. 

During an event in Corpus Christi on Friday to tout his energy agenda, Trump referred to Cornyn, Paxton and Hunt, who were all in attendance, but stopped short of throwing his support behind any of them.  

“They’re in a little race together,” Trump told the crowd. “You know that, right? A little bit of a race. It’s going to be an interesting one, right?” 

“They’re both great people, too,” the president said of Cornyn and Paxton.

According to a recent poll from the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs, 55% of Republican primary voters said they were more likely to back a candidate supported by the president in the election.

Despite Trump’s silence, Paxton was generally viewed as the more MAGA-aligned candidate, while Cornyn was seen as an establishment conservative, predating the Trump era.

Tuesday’s results bring the state one step closer to what’s setting up to be an unusually competitive general election. Trump won Texas by 14 points in 2024, but polls show Democrats could prove to be competitive in November. A Texas Democrat has not won a statewide office in more than 30 years.