Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a Senate runoff Tuesday, one week after receiving President Donald Trump’s backing.
Paxton won the race by a landslide 25-point margin, 62.5% to 37.5%, after receiving a late-minute May 19 endorsementfrom Trump, the Associated Press reported with 57% of the vote counted. The race advanced to a runoff after neither candidate received a majority of the votes during the primary.
After winning the GOP nomination Paxton will face Democratic nominee State Rep. James Talarico in the November general election. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the race “Lean R.”
Cornyn won a plurality of the vote in the March 3 primary edging out Paxton by roughly 1.5 percentage points. However, he failed to secure a majority needed to avoid a runoff with his challenger. Cornyn received endorsements from former Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry and outgoing Republican Texas Rep. Michael McCaul, the former chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee.
Republican Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt — who came in a distant third in the primary — and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon endorsed Paxton.
Both candidates expressed their support for Trump, hoping to receive his backing. Ahead of the runoff, Trump said he would endorse one candidate and encourage the other to drop out.
Polls showed Paxton with a sizable nine-point lead, 51% to 42.7%, against Cornyn, according to Global Strategy Group.
Paxton said in March that he would “stay in the race” regardless of who Trump endorsed. Trump said it would be “very bad for him” to refuse to drop out.
“Well, that’s bad for him to say,” Trump said. “That is bad for him. So maybe, maybe that leads me to go the other direction.”
Previous reports suggested that Trump planned to endorse Cornyn, The Atlantic reported in March.
Cornyn did not commit to supporting Paxton if he defeated him in the runoff during an interview with “The Hill Sunday.” He previously accused Paxton of being ethically unfit to run for office, while Paxton argued that the 74-year-old Cornyn is too old to serve another term.
Paxton is embroiled in a long list of ethical and personal controversies, which include a proposed plea deal that would have allowed a man who admitted to sexually abusing a young boy to serve only one day in jail. His wife, Republican Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce in July 2025 over an extramarital affair.
The Texas House voted to impeach Paxton in 2023 on 20 articles, alleging that he misused his office to aid Nate Paul, a wealthy real estate developer and political donor. The state Senate acquitted Paxton in Sept. 2023.
Trump railed against Cornyn on Truth Social for not fighting “hard enough” to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require individuals to provide documentation proving their citizenship before voting.
Cornyn is among those who lost their primary races to Trump-backed candidates. Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie and Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy lost their primary races in May after Trump aggressively waged war against them for opposing his agenda. Cassidy voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment in 2021, while Massie voted against the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act and opposed the Iran war.
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