Democrats Celebrate Trump Endorsement
for Paxton in Texas Senate Runoff Election
U.S. Senate General Election Polls
Capitol Inside
May 19, 2026
The Democrats' odds for snapping a statewide losing streak of 32 years soared on Tuesday after President Donald Trump rallied behind Attorney General Ken Paxton with an endorsement for a primary runoff bout for the seat that U.S. Senator John Cornyn appeared to have the best chance to keep for the GOP in November.
"I am incredibly honored to have President Trump’s COMPLETE AND TOTAL ENDORSEMENT," Paxton said in a post on X. "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!"
Trump said in a Truth Social post that Cornyn is a "good man" who'd worked well with him at times. But the president said the Texas senator hadn't been supportive of him enough when "times were tough" and that he was "very late in backing me" when he sought and won the White House nomination again in 2024.
"Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the U.S.Senate, Trump wrote.
But Trump devoted most of the Paxton endorsement announcement to heaping praise on himself for accomplishments that he claimed to have made. After teasing an endorsement in the Texas race for more than three months, Trump's pitch for the state's top lawyer could make it all but impossible for Cornyn to prevail in the overtime vote a week from now. Polls have shown that Democratic nominee James Talarico would have his best shot a victory in the general election if Paxton ousted Cornyn in the runoff election.
"Ken Paxton has spent the past year fighting for Trump’s endorsement instead of fighting for the people of Texas, and today it finally paid off," the Texas Democratic Party said in a post on X minutes after the news broke on the president's intervention in the Senate race here. "This November, Texas voters will send @JamesTalarico to the U.S. Senate to fight for the working class."
Talarico - a state representative from Austin - has said that it didn't matter to him who the Republican opposition would be in the fall. But Paxton is clearly the most vulnerable GOP contender in the Senate competition in Texas as a consequence of baggage from his impeachment in the Texas House on corruption charges and an impending divorce that his wife who's a state senator filed last year on "biblical" grounds amid tales of her spouse's alleged infidelity.
U.S. Senate Republicans and old-school GOP establishment interests had urged Trump to back Cornyn for the sake of ensuring that the Texas seat remain in the control of Republicans. Cornyn won the Senate seat initially in 2002 before easy re-election victories in 2008, 2014 and 2020.
Democrats haven't won a U.S. Senate contest in Texas since Lloyd Bentsen's last race in 1988, Bentsen gave up the Senate post in early 1993 to take a job in Bill Clinton's cabinet. Democrats haven't won a statewide fight in the Lone Star State since 1994.
Talarico can expect to benefit from the bloodbath that Trump had allowed the Senate GOP runoff to become after balking on a promise to make an endorsement shortly after the primary election on March 3. The president appeared poised to stay on the sidelines before the Paxton plug around noon on Tuesday.
When Cornyn was asked about the potential for an endorsement from the president on Monday, the senator said that ship had sailed. The prevailing sentiment in the Austin beltway initially had been that Trump would endorse Cornyn to protect the Republicans' hold on the Texas seat.
But Capitol Inside predicted at the time that Trump would stay out of the Texas race completely or wait until the final week or two before the runoff on May 26 to issue an endorsement which would go to Paxton if and when he did.
Cornyn issued a statement with his plans to keep up the fight until the election next week. "I have worked closely with President Trump through both of his Presidential terms and voted with him more than 99% of the time," Cornyn said on X. "He has consistently called me a friend in this race. It is now time for Texas Republican voters to decide if they want a strong nominee to help our GOP candidates down ballot and defeat Talarico in November, or a weak nominee who jeopardizes everything we care about. I trust the Republican voters of Texas."
more to come ...
|
|
DATE |
SAMPLE |
CORNYN |
TALARCIO |
LEADER |
|
4/22-5/06 |
1,223 LV |
45% |
44% |
Cornyn +1 |
|
4/10-20 |
1,200 RV |
33% |
40% |
Talarico +7 |
|
4/17-20 |
1,018 LV |
41% |
44% |
Talarico +3 |
|
3/12-17 |
900 LV |
41% |
43% |
Talarico +2 |
|
3/04-05 |
576 RV |
43% |
44% |
Talarico +1 |
Average |
|
|
|
|
Talarico +3 |
POLL |
DATE |
SAMPLE |
PAXTON |
TALARCIO |
LEADER |
|
4/22-5/06 |
1,223 LV |
45% |
45% |
Even |
|
4/10-20 |
1,200 RV |
34% |
42% |
Talarico +8 |
|
4/17-20 |
1,018 LV |
41% |
46% |
Talarico +5 |
|
3/12-17 |
900 LV |
43% |
44% |
Talarico +1 |
|
3/04-05 |
576 RV |
45% |
47% |
Talarico +2 |
Average |
|
|
|
|
Talarico +4 |
|
| 
