Cornyn Spurns Texas Republican Chair's
Push for Ceasefire in Senate Runoff Fight
Texas Primary Runoff Candidates
Capitol Inside
May 21, 2026
Texas GOP Chairman Abraham George called for a ceasefire down the stretch in a primary runoff for the U.S. Senate race on Thursday as a request that challenger Ken Paxton eagerly accepted and the incumbent John Cornyn immediately declined in a social media post attacking the state attorney general who's trying to unseat him.
With five days to go before the overtime election in the Lone Star State, Paxton responded to the party boss' pitch by saying that he'd already reserved the remainder of his television buys for positive advertising and challenged Cornyn to do the same for the sake of Republican unity in the general election.
"We have already changed our TV ad traffic starting today to ensure our campaign ends on a positive note and that we can focus on beating the leftist lunatic in the fall," Paxton said in a post on X. "I'm calling on Cornyn to do the same for the good of our party. Let's keep Texas Red!"
But Paxton and George have been allies - and Cornyn accused the attorney general of trying to hide behind the Texas Republican Party leader's push for a truce in terms of attack advertising to escape scrutiny between now and the runoff election on Tuesday.
"I know you are desperate to avoid accountability, Ken," Cornyn said an hour after George asked the Senate contenders to make nice for the next five days. "We need a few more days to burn in the fact that you plea bargained with a child sex offender, offering them only one day in prison and no sex offender registry as a favor to Nate Paul's lawyer."
The senator was referring to a case involving a Waco attorney who got a slap on the wrist from the AG's office in a plea bargain in a child sex abuse case. Former Governor Rick Perry ignored the push for an end to the attacks in the Senate battle as well.
"Ken Paxton initially offered a plea deal to a MAN WHO ADMITTED TO MOLESTING a child to serve only ONE DAY IN JAIl," Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, contended.
GOP State Rep. Jeff Leach of Allen, who played a key role in the Texas House's prosecution of Paxton after a vote for his impeachment in 2023, repost the shot that Perry took at Paxton about the time George announced that he wanted the Senate candidates to go positive on the airways for the remainder of the OT contest. .
George may be assuming that the battle is over for all practical purposes in the wake of an endorsement that President Donald Trump issued to Paxton for the runoff on Tuesday.
more to come ...
Ranked on Competitiveness and Significance
 Projected Winner GOP |
 Projected Winner Dem |
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STATEWIDE |
| 1 |
U.S. Senate (R)
John Cornyn (I) 42.0%
Ken Paxton 40.5% |
| 2 |
Attorney General (R)
Mayes Middleton 39.1%
Chip Roy 31.6% |
| 3 |
Texas RRC (R)
Jim Wright (I) 32.1%
Bo French 31.8% |
| 4 |
Lieutenant Governor (D)
Vikki Goodwin 48.0%
Marcos Velez 31.5% |
| 5 |
Attorney General (D)
Nathan Johnson 48.1%
Joe Jaworski 26.4% |
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TEXAS LEGISLATURE |
| 1 |
House District 37 (D)
Ozzie Ochoa Jr. 46.0%
Esmi Cantu-Castle 32.0% |
| 2 |
House District 41 (D)
Julio Salinas 39.0%
Victor Haddad 37.0% |
| 3 |
House District 41 (R)
Sergio Sanchez 46.0%
Gary Groves 38.0% |
| 4 |
House District 149 (D)
Hubert Vo (I) 38.0%
Darlene Breaux 38.0% |
| 5 |
House District 100 (D)
Venton Jones (I) 49.0%
Amanda Richardson 35.0% |
| 6 |
House District 125 (D)
Adrian Reyna 39.0%
Michelle Vela 34.0% |
| 7 |
House District 131 (D)
Staci Childs 45.0%
Lawrene Allen 28.0% |
| 8 |
House District 126 (R)
Stan Stanart 49.0%
Kelly Peterson 29.0% |
| 9 |
House District 49 (D)
Montserrat Garibay 33.0%
Kathie Tovo 28.0% |
| 10 |
House District 97 (D)
Diane Symons 42.0%
Beth McLaugnlin 30.0% |
| 11 |
House District 40 (R)
Celeste Cabrera-Huff 38,0%
Nehemias Gomez 37.0% |
| 12 |
Senate District 19 (R)
Marcus Cardenas 44.0%
Robert Marks Jr. 32.0% |
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TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL |
| 1 |
Congress District 35 (D)
Maureen Galindo 29.2%
Johnny Garcia 27.0% |
| 2 |
Congress District 35 (R)
John Lujan 33.0%
Carlos De La Cruz 26.8% |
| 3 |
Congress District 9 (R)
Alex Mealer 35.8%
Briscoe Cain 31.2% |
| 4 |
Congress District 33 (D)
Colin Allred 44.0%
Julie Johnson (I) 33.2% |
| 5 |
Congress District 18 (D)
Christian Menefee 46.1%
Al Green (I) 44.2% |
| 6 |
Congress District 19 (R)
Tom Sell 40.4%
Abraham Enriquez 18.8% |
| 7 |
Congress District 32 (R)
Jace Yarbrough 49.0%
Ryan Binkley 21.7% |
| 8 |
Congress District 38 (R)
Jon Bonck 46.8%
Shelly deZevallos 18.8% |
| 9 |
Congress District 24 (D)
Kevin Burge 48.0%
TJ Ware 26.1% |
| 10 |
Congress District 7 (R)
Alexander Hale 45.3%
Tina Cohen 26.8% |
| 11 |
Congress District 37 (R)
Ge'Nell Gary 35.3%
Lauren Pena 35.0% |
| 12 |
Congress District 5 (D)
Chelsey Hockett 45.9%
Ruth "Truth" Torres 41.6% |
| 13 |
Congress District 16 (R)
Adam Bauman 27.9%
Manuel Barraza 21.1% |
| 14 |
Congress District 30 (R)
Everett Jackson 38.0%
Sholdon Daniels 24.3% |
| 15 |
Congress District 33 (R)
Patrick Gillespie 35.5%
John Sims 22.3% |
| 16 |
Congress District 17 (D)
Milah Flores 42.6%
Casey Shepard 32.4% |
| 17 |
Congress District 14 (D)
Richard H. Davis 44.3%
Thurman Bill Bartie 31.3% |
| 18 |
Congress District 1 (D)
Yolanda Prince 44.5%
Dax Alexander 22.0% |
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