Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn praised federal grant awards to three left-wing groups his reelection campaign has criticized Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton of funding via grants at the state level, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
The Cornyn campaign has released a barrage of digital attack ads claiming Paxton, his primary challenger, has “funded the left” by overseeing awards from the Texas AG office to nonprofit groups that engage in pro-immigration and LGBT advocacy. Though Cornyn has sought to knock Paxton’s record by making the grant awards an early focal point in the blockbuster race, the Texas incumbent previously applauded federal grants to three of these groups, which his reelection campaign has accused of being “radical” and bankrolled by his opponent.
Cornyn, who is seeking his fifth term in the U.S. Senate, is trailing Paxton, according to several recent polls. Other candidates can still potentially join the GOP primary field with Republican Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt also weighing a Senate bid.
Paxton has repeatedly criticized his opponent’s attack ad campaign, which he argues primarily relies upon grants issued by the AG office that provide financial assistance to victims of violent crime and reimbursements to nonprofits who offer crisis intervention services.
A source familiar previously told the DCNF that Paxton’s office distributed the grants through a blind process and that the Texas legislature appropriated the money. A super PAC boosting Paxton in the primary maintains the AG barred nonprofits from using grant awards for immigration claims.
“What kind of man tries to score political points by putting violent crime victims and sexual assault survivors in the crosshairs?” Paxton told the DCNF in a statement. “It’s shameful that John Cornyn is choosing to end his 40-year political career with this kind of blatant hypocrisy and desperation, but that’s just who he is.”
“Ken Paxton talks tough on the border — but behind the scenes, he was cutting checks to some of the most radical organizations in Texas,” the Cornyn campaign alleges on its “Crooked Ken Paxton” website dedicated to releasing opposition research about his primary challenger. Cornyn has characterized these taxpayer-funded grants as evidence that Paxton has betrayed conservatives on immigration and left-wing cultural issues.
However, Cornyn previously released statements applauding federal awards to three of these groups between 2019 and 2024, which his reelection campaign alleges “help illegal immigrants fight deportation” and “offer gender ideology programs for kids as young as 7.”
Cornyn’s campaign has dragged Paxton for allegedly doling out roughly $2.2 million in grant awards to Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas, stating the group “assists undocumented immigrants in fighting deportation” in an attack ad.
Cornyn, however, cheered a federal grant to the group in 2021 for helping provide legal assistance to Texas residents, including women and children fleeing domestic violence. The group received funding under a fiscal year 2021 appropriations bill, which Cornyn supported.
“The need for civil legal aid is greater now than ever, as hundreds of thousands of veterans, elderly victims of foreclosure and women and children desperate to escape domestic violence are not getting the assistance they need,” Cornyn said in a statement supporting a $285,095 grant to Legal Aid of Northwest Texas. “I applaud this award and will continue to do everything I can to support civil legal aid in Northwest Texas.”
Cornyn similarly lauded a $500,000 federal grant award to the Austin, Texas-based nonprofit Texas RioGrande Legal Aid in December 2019, arguing the group was instrumental in assisting Texas residents with disaster relief. The Texas incumbent’s reelection campaign has accused the nonprofit of being “pro-illegal” in a digital attack ad slamming Paxton for allegedly doling out more than $2 million in grants to the nonprofit from the AG’s office.
“In the past two years, South Texans have proven their resilience as the region has been devastated by hurricanes, flooding, and storms,” Cornyn said in a statement praising a federal grant award to Texas RioGrande Legal Aid under a fiscal year 2019 appropriations bill he supported. “This much-needed relief will be a shot in the arm for Texans in the Rio Grande Valley to aid their ongoing recovery from these tragic events.”
The incumbent senator has also ripped Paxton for overseeing more than $800,000 in grant awards to the Montrose Center, which touts itself as the “cultural hub of Houston’s LGBTQ community.” Cornyn’s reelection campaign has denounced the nonprofit for hosting “child-accessible drag shows” and offering transgender procedures to children.
“This isn’t conservative,” a Cornyn attack ad states on the Montrose Center receiving taxpayer dollars. “It’s a betrayal of Texas values.”
Cornyn, however, cheered when the Montrose Center received more than $400,000 in federal grant money in February 2024. The LGBT advocacy group received federal funding through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program, which assists those experiencing homelessness.
“Homelessness in Texas is on the rise, and higher costs on everything from rent to utilities to groceries have made it even harder for these individuals to get back on their feet,” Cornyn said in a statement praising the federal funding secured for the Montrose Center as well as other Houston-based organizations. “This funding will give those on the front lines of this crisis the tools to help Texans in the Houston area secure permanent housing and achieve their long-term goals.”
Cornyn’s campaign characterized Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid and the Montrose Center as “left-wing organizational recipients” who were selected by the Biden administration to receive federal grants in a statement to the DCNF.
“Apparently Ken Paxton needs some remedial education in how the federal government works,” Cornyn campaign senior advisor Matt Mackowiak said in a statement. “Congress approves funding amounts, and the executive branch selects recipients. At the federal level, these left wing organizational recipients were selected by the Biden administration, and they are the same ones that Ken Paxton outrageously approved for funding from Texas taxpayers at the state level.”
Paxton made another dig at Cornyn in his statement to the DCNF, arguing that “character matters in Texas.” The turn of phrase appeared to flip the script on the Cornyn campaign’s attempt thus far to make the race about Paxton’s personal history.
Cornyn summed up his race against Paxton as a “test of character” in an interview with the New York Times in May. Paxton has sought to make the race about alleged policy differences, pointing to Cornyn playing a key role in passing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022 — a Biden-era gun control bill — which funded state enforcement of red flag laws and additional background checks for individuals under 21 purchasing firearms.
Cornyn has argued that he has voted with Trump 99% of the time — an assertion supported with evidence. Though, the longtime incumbent senator viewed less favorably by Republican voters than Paxton, according to recent polling.
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