Ken Paxton won the Republican U.S. Senate primary runoff in Texas on Tuesday night, setting up a new fight for the seat and ending John Cornyn’s bid for another term. Cornyn conceded and told supporters he still had seven months left in the United States Senate.
That answer matters now because the runoff was the decisive second round after Texas voters went to the polls on March 3, and Paxton’s victory came after President Trump upended the race in mid-May by endorsing him. Paxton thanked Trump in his remarks in Plano, Texas, and cast the result as proof that the president’s backing changed the contest when it mattered most.
Paxton’s win also leaves Republicans thinking about the cost of what comes next. The Senate Leadership Fund did not include Texas in its initial $342 million in ad reservations, even though a Paxton general election campaign could draw a well-funded opponent and force outside groups to decide whether to step in later. John Barrasso, in a social media post, called Paxton worthy of his endorsement and support, becoming the highest-ranking Senate Republican in the race to publicly back him.
Elsewhere on the Texas runoff ballot, Vikki Goodwin and Marcos Vélez were competing in the Democratic primary runoff for lieutenant governor, Mayes Middleton and Chip Roy were fighting for the Republican nod in the attorney general race, and Nathan Johnson was facing Joe Jaworski for the Democratic nomination for attorney general. In the Republican runoff for Texas’ Ninth Congressional District, Alex Mealer beat Briscoe Cain.
The attorney general contest was open for the first time in a decade, which gave that race extra weight beyond the Senate result. But Paxton’s victory was the night’s defining shift, because it moved the Republican Senate nomination away from Cornyn and into a general election that may yet force party leaders to decide whether Texas is worth the money they left out at first.
