Ken Paxton, the Trump-endorsed and MAGA-backed insurgent, ousted Senator John Cornyn in a runoff on Tuesday, becoming the second primary challenger to knock out an incumbent Republican senator in less than two weeks in a raw display of President Trump\u2019s powerful hold on the party base.<\/p>\n
The contest was the most expensive primary in American history \u2014 and Mr. Paxton prevailed despite being outspent on advertising by pro-Cornyn forces by roughly $80 million.<\/p>\n
Now, Republicans are bracing for a potentially competitive general election in Texas, where Democrats have not won statewide in a generation. Democratic donors nationwide have swooned for their nominee, James Talarico, a smooth-talking 37-year-old seminarian and state legislator, in the hopes he will realize their long-dashed dreams of turning Texas blue.<\/p>\n
National Republicans have warned for months that Mr. Paxton\u2019s scandal-riddled past could put the Republican-held seat in jeopardy. But G.O.P. primary voters proved on Tuesday that they were in no mood for political guidance from Mr. Cornyn or a much-reviled party establishment.<\/p>\n
The scope of his defeat was staggering. Mr. Cornyn, once the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, was trailing in nearly all of Texas\u2019 254 counties.<\/p>\n
Voters cast ballots in several other key contests on Tuesday, including the first older congressional Democratic incumbent to lose to a younger rival in a primary.<\/p>\n
Here are seven other key takeaways on a consequential night of primary runoffs:<\/p>\n
Cornyn\u2019s defeat is another proof point of Trump\u2019s sway.<\/p>\n
Texas is home to nearly 19 million voters. But for much of 2025 and early 2026, the Texas Republican Senate primary played out as a battle for an audience of one.<\/p>\n
Mr. Cornyn\u2019s allies spent tens of millions of dollars on advertising in hopes of showing that the senator had a clear path to re-election, and thus a chance to unlock Mr. Trump\u2019s endorsement. His super PAC hired a top Trump adviser, Chris LaCivita, to lead its efforts; his campaign used the president\u2019s pollster, Tony Fabrizio.<\/p>\n
In the aftermath of the first round of voting in March \u2014 when Mr. Cornyn edged ahead of Mr. Paxton, exceeding expectations \u2014 most expected the president to back the state\u2019s senior senator. Mr. Trump said an endorsement was imminent, and he declared on social media that whomever he didn\u2019t back should drop out.<\/p>\n
In the end, the president went with his longtime loyalist, Mr. Paxton, despite the attorney general\u2019s history of impeachment, indictment and accusations of adultery.<\/p>\n
The race was not particularly close. Mr. Paxton improved on the first round in March nearly everywhere and was leading by more than 25 percentage points, with roughly three-quarters of the vote counted.<\/p>\n
An ugly G.O.P. primary could take time to heal.<\/p>\n
It is an understatement to say that the race between Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Paxton has left wounds within the party that won\u2019t heal soon.<\/p>\n
Even in the final hours on Tuesday, Mr. Cornyn was attacking Mr. Paxton, telling CNN<\/a> he was an \u201cembarrassment\u201d and bringing up his wife\u2019s accusations of marital infidelity.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t trust Ken Paxton,\u201d Mr. Cornyn said bluntly, creating the kind of soundbite that Democrats could use this fall.<\/p>\n Democrats had a bitter primary too, between Mr. Talarico, who is white, and Representative Jasmine Crockett, who is Black, that at times split along racial lines. But Mr. Talarico has had the advantage of time; he has been working for close to three months now to try to repair some of those relationships.<\/p>\n If electability had been Mr. Cornyn\u2019s chief argument, Republicans are wasting no time in pivoting to typecast Mr. Talarico as too liberal for Texas, with one G.O.P. group branding him a \u201cwoke weirdo.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n In his victory speech, Mr. Paxton said that Texas would be \u201cthe radical left\u2019s No. 1 priority.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to let them take it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The general election is going to have a Texas-size price tag.<\/p>\n Mr. Talarico had been outpacing just about every other Democrat in the country in fund-raising even before his matchup with Mr. Paxton was set.<\/p>\n He raised $27 million in the first quarter; no Republican running for the Senate in any state raised more than $4 million for his or her main campaign account.<\/p>\n Mr. Cornyn has been one of the Republican Party\u2019s best fund-raisers. Mr. Paxton has not. As a result, party leaders in Washington have said that Mr. Paxton\u2019s nomination could force donors to divert as much as $100 million to save the seat. Senate officials are hoping Mr. Trump and his $350 million super PAC decide to pony up. Notably, the main Senate Republican super PAC left Texas entirely out of its fall ad reservations<\/a>.<\/p>\n Democratic strategists have not included Texas in their top tier of possible Senate pickups as they try to flip four seats across the country to reclaim a majority in the chamber. That top tier<\/a> includes Alaska, North Carolina, Maine and Ohio.<\/p>\n Texas remains alluring to Democrats, though, both for its size and its symbolism.<\/p>\n Cornyn\u2019s loss could reverberate on Capitol Hill, too.<\/p>\n For much of Mr. Trump\u2019s second term, Republicans have eaten just about whatever Mr. Trump has been serving.<\/p>\n