Sen. John Cornyn refuses to close ranks behind Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, lobbing vicious attacks after losing to him in the Republican Senate primary — and Texas Republicans are furious.
Mr. Paxton’s tepid poll numbers have prompted worry among state Republicans, and GOP insiders warn Mr. Cornyn’s sour-grapes game isn’t helping and could cost Republicans not just the Senate seat, but a cascade of down-ballot races in the Lone Star State.
One Texas Republican lawmaker said Mr. Cornyn, 74, should get over the primary loss to Mr. Paxton, 63, who beat him in a runoff after winning a last-minute endorsement from President Trump.
The lawmaker said Mr. Cornyn shouldn’t exit a 23-year Senate career as a “bitter old man.”
“It would be best if he could get behind Paxton and just find something about him to talk positively about,” the lawmaker told The Washington Times. “But if you’re not going to do that, then step back… You already spent hundreds of millions of dollars to criticize him publicly. Stop.”
Mr. Cornyn isn’t staying quiet about his disdain for his GOP foe.
He knocked Mr. Paxton as a “lazy” and “poor campaigner” in an interview published Friday by The Texas Tribune that detailed his reasons for not wanting to help Mr. Paxton defeat Democrat James Talarico.
Mr. Cornyn faulted Mr. Paxton for leading a lackadaisical campaign that “doesn’t raise money.”
“He basically is not offering a very compelling case for his election. He’s making this harder than it needs to be,” Mr. Cornyn said.
Mr. Paxton, he said, hasn’t done “diddly squat” to persuade Mr. Cornyn’s supporters to back his race against Mr. Talarico.
Mr. Paxton’s aides say their outreach to Mr. Cornyn has been met with silence.
Mr. Cornyn’s criticisms follow a months-long, bitter battle between the two men for the Senate seat Mr. Cornyn has occupied for four terms.
Mr. Cornyn warned voters during the primary that Mr. Paxton would be the easier candidate to beat in the general election. Mr. Cornyn lost, and polls so far show Mr. Talarico just slightly in the lead over Mr. Paxton.
The latest poll, released August 27 by the non-partisan Texas Public Opinion Research, showed Mr. Talarico opening up a six-point lead over Mr. Paxton in a survey of 1,000 likely voters.
It found Mr. Paxton leading with white voters and voters over age 55. Mr. Talarico came out ahead with Black voters, Latino voters, younger voters, college-educated voters and women.
Polls also show Mr. Paxton underperforming in districts Mr. Trump won in 2024 by double digits.
Mr. Talarico enjoys an enormous fundraising lead, bringing in $72 million so far, compared to the Paxton campaign’s $16.8 million.
Mr. Paxton said on Fox News’ “The Sunday Briefing” that he isn’t likely to lose in deep-red Texas if Republicans turn out to vote.
“I don’t trust these polls,” he said. “We have our own polling that suggests maybe a little different result, but we definitely have a close race.”
Mr. Paxton said his own fundraising “has been tremendously good” in the past two weeks and he is soon going to launch some campaign ads.
Mr. Talarico, he said, is raising millions of dollars from liberals outside of Texas.
As for Mr. Cornyn’s insults, Mr. Paxton said his old GOP foe “doesn’t know my schedule,” and added that the charge he is not working to raise money “is completely fabricated.”
He said he is reaching out to Cornyn donors.
“The reality is we are attracting Cornyn supporters because I think they realize if we lose this race, we are going to lose the U.S. Senate and we are going to lose Texas,” Mr. Paxton said.
Mr. Paxton has served as Texas attorney general for a decade and, along the way, was impeached by the Texas House, indicted on three felony charges of state securities fraud and accused of marital infidelity that led his wife of 38 years to file for divorce.
He’s also accused of firing four top deputies who reported allegations of corruption to the FBI. The firings resulted in litigation and a subsequent $6.6 million judgment against the state that taxpayers must pay for.
During the primary battle and runoff, Mr. Cornyn and allies spent millions plastering the airwaves with negative advertising spotlighting Mr. Paxton’s scandals. Mr. Paxton aired his own advertising framing Mr. Cornyn as a lawmaker who has done little for the state of Texas during his four Senate terms.
Republicans are hoping Mr. Cornyn will come around and help Mr. Paxton and down-ticket candidates on the ballot in November.
A Texas GOP insider said, “John Cornyn is a good man who is establishment and out of touch with the GOP base. Ken Paxton is indisputably of questionable character on multiple fronts yet has a track record of being a conservative fighter.”
The insider added, “Cornyn knew Paxton would risk the seat and has no respect for him. Paxton likely still pulls it off because it’s Texas — but it shouldn’t be close and nevertheless is.”
Mr. Trump won the state by double digits in the past three presidential elections.
Texas Republicans remain optimistic Mr. Paxton will win, but they say the close Senate race is putting tremendous stress on down-ballot Republicans and making their races more expensive.
GOP activists in Texas say they are frustrated with Mr. Cornyn.
“The voters are getting backhanded by a candidate who loses and then fails to support the candidate who was the winner,” one activist said privately. “Nobody, nobody owns the office of Senator of Texas. It’s the people’s office. It’s not Senator Cornyn’s office.”
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