Cornyn Brands Paxton as Fraud as Senate
Race Begins with Shots and Trump Touting
Capitol Inside
April 8, 2025
MAGA loyalists celebrated on Tuesday night when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made a bid to challenge U.S. Senator John Cornyn official in a GOP primary contest that both men sought to turn immediately into a referendum on their ties to President Donald Trump.
Paxton, who'd appeared poised to enter the race while testing waters for several months, broke from the starting gates in an interview on Fox News that he followed up with a statement on the Internet that unveiled a new slogan for the federal competition.
Unshakeable. Unbroken. Unafraid.
"I’m running for U.S. Senate to fight for President Trump’s agenda and take a sledgehammer to the D.C. establishment," Paxton declared.
Paxton's campaign said internal polling showed him with a 25-point lead over the longtime incumbent who's held the post for more than 22 years. Paxton claimed that Cornyn "turned his back" on the Trump agenda "time and time again" - and he said that the state's senior senator had labeled the Trump border wall as "naive."
Cornyn set the tone for an aggressive defensive when he responded to Paxton's salvos with insults that appeared designed as pre-emptive strikes.
"Ken Paxton is a fraud," Cornyn's campaign said. "He talks tough on crime and then lets crooked progressive Lina Hidalgo off the hook. He says his impeachment trial was a sham but he didn't contest the facts in legal filings which will cost the state millions. He says he's anti-woke but he funnels millions of taxpayer dollars to lawyers who celebrate DEI. And Ken claims to be a man of faith but uses fake Uber accounts to meet his girlfriend and deceive his family."
Cornyn's initial jab made it clear that the Texas House vote to impeach Paxton in 2023 would a central weapon in the re-election arsenal. Sixty House Republicans backed the state lawyer's impeachment on the final weekend of the regular session that year. Cornyn received some fresh ammunition in that regard this week after a judge awarded $6.6 million in damages to several former Paxton aides who were fired after reporting him to the FBI.
But the AG survived the attempt to take it out with his acquittal by Senate Republicans on corruption charges that the House alleged but failed to prove. The ordeal elevated Paxton to rock star status with the GOP's conservative base - and it effectively set him on track for the Senate race against an incumbent who's been the least popular major elected leader in the Lone Star State in polls of voters here. .
"It's crystal clear that it's time for a change. I'm a battle-tested Attorney General and conservative warrior who's secured major victories against the establishment, the corrupt Biden Administration, and woke corporations," Paxton contended. "Now I'm ready to take that same toughness to the U.S. Senate."
Cornyn tried to hitch his star to the president as well - saying in a statement that he voted with Trump positions more than 95 percent of the current U.S. Senate members. Cornyn has claimed credit for using his former position as the Senate whip to help advance the Trump agenda during his first term in the White House.
A central objective for Cornyn may be to persuade Trump to stay on the sidelines if he has no chance for the president's endorsement. Paxton would appear to have the best shot at Trump's blessings. But Cornyn would hope that Trump would temper his comments on the race in the event that he throws his muscle behind the attorney general.
Paxton got in a jab in response to Cornyn's fighting words. "Our campaign only responds to serious candidates who aren't 25 points down in the polls," the AG said in a post on X.
more to come ...
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