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Cornyn won over Trump, but not the MAGA base
Sen. John Cornyn learned Tuesday that being close to President Donald Trump is not the same as being MAGA.
Trump endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton in the contentious Republican Senate runoff, backing a candidate more fully embraced by the hard-right conservative base long suspicious of Cornyn.
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During the campaign, Cornyn posted a social media photo of himself reading Trump’s The Art of the Deal. He embraced Trump policies he had criticized in the past, including the border wall. Earlier this month, he also introduced legislation to name a new federal highway in Texas after Trump.
Cornyn’s courtship of Trump almost worked.
After his close first-place finish over Paxton in the March 3 primary, the president appeared poised to endorse Cornyn. But Paxton bought more time, suggesting he would leave the race if the Senate approved the SAVE Act, a voter ID bill.
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The SAVE Act stalled, and Paxton blamed Cornyn.
In the end, Cornyn didn’t get Trump’s backing because many hard-line conservatives view him as tied to an older style of Republican politics built around compromise and Senate dealmaking.
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Cornyn vowed Tuesday to press forward, saying Republicans must choose “a strong nominee” who can beat Democrat James Talarico in November.
Now Cornyn faces a difficult challenge in next Tuesday’s runoff: Winning over Trump was possible. Winning over the MAGA movement may be far harder.base