John Cornyn

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Cornyn returned to the Capitol on Wednesday facing the question hanging over his Senate runoff campaign after President Donald Trump endorsed GOP rival Ken Paxton: Can he still survive without Trump?

“I'm disappointed, but it doesn't change our plans,” Cornyn told The Dallas Morning News. “We've got the best team, the best plan of any election I've run in and we intend to execute it and win.”

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Paxton’s campaign and the main super PAC supporting him quickly rolled out new ads highlighting Trump’s backing and replaying past praise from the president, including calling Paxton “an attorney general who has really led the way.”

“No one has ever fought harder for the American people than President Trump, and I look forward to championing his America First agenda in the Senate!” Paxton said in a statement.

Trump’s intervention just days before Tuesday’s runoff scrambled the race’s final stretch between Cornyn’s establishment-style conservatism and Paxton’s more confrontational MAGA politics. Early voting in the showdown ends Friday.

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Cornyn, who said he hadn’t spoken with Trump recently, continued warning that nominating the scandal-prone Paxton would be an “albatross” around the necks of Texas Republicans running up and down the ballot in November.

He also predicted a general election matchup between Paxton and Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state representative from Austin, would be a “jump ball.”

Down-ballot help

Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Flower Mound, a Paxton supporter, pushed back on suggestions the AG would be a flawed general election candidate.

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He said the attorney general energizes Republican base voters in a way Cornyn does not.

“President Trump's name is not on the ballot, so what we need is a candidate at the top of the ticket in Texas who can excite the Republican base, and the reality is Ken Paxton does excite the Republican base,” Gill told the News. “There's a segment of the base in Texas who would crawl over broken glass to vote for Ken Paxton.”

Trump on Wednesday called Paxton a “great candidate” and predicted he would beat Talarico in November, criticizing the Democrat as a “defective candidate” whose past comments on a variety of issues will haunt him.

Trump said he talked to Senate GOP leaders about his decision to endorse against a Republican incumbent.

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“They’ll be all right with it,” Trump said. “They want to win. I know how to win.”

In his Truth Social post announcing the endorsement, Trump called Cornyn a good man but objected to Cornyn's comments in May 2023 questioning whether he could win the White House again and urging the party to seek a different nominee.

Cornyn later rallied behind Trump after the New Hampshire primary, but it ultimately was not enough to secure his endorsement.

Back to campaigning

Asked Wednesday whether he had any regrets about his initial doubts about Trump’s 2024 presidential prospects, Cornyn pointed to sharp criticisms of Trump made over the years by prominent Republicans, such as Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

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Cornyn characterized his own Trump critiques as "anodyne by comparison” to attacks from Republicans who are now among Trump’s closest allies.

Cornyn had flown back to Washington to help Senate Republicans advance a budget bill out of committee and said he’d be available for floor votes later in the week.

By Wednesday afternoon, Cornyn was headed to the airport for a return flight to Texas and more campaigning.

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“I'm just focused on winning my race and I still think I can and so I'm going to be heading back to ‘get out the vote’ efforts in Houston and Corpus Christi,” Cornyn said.