Updated May 19, 2026 — President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Republican runoff for the U.S. Senate, aiming to bring a costly primary fight to a close a week before the May 26 contest.
Trump posted his endorsement on Truth Social, calling Paxton “a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas,” and saying Paxton “has gone through a lot, in many cases, very unfairly, but he is a Fighter, and knows how to WIN. Our Country needs Fighters, and also Loyalty to the Cause of Greatness.”
Paxton, a staunch Trump ally, faces four-term Sen. John Cornyn in the runoff after neither candidate reached the 50% threshold in the March 3 primary. Cornyn received roughly 42% of the vote to Paxton’s nearly 41%, a difference of about 26,000 votes. Early voting in the runoff began Monday.
Trump noted his working relationship with Cornyn, saying “John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough,” and adding that Cornyn was slow to back his 2024 bid. The president had indicated in March he would endorse “soon,” but delayed for weeks as the primary dragged on.
The endorsement intensifies a race that has divided Texas Republicans. Senate GOP leaders had broadly coalesced around Cornyn as the candidate best positioned to hold the seat in November against Democratic nominee state Rep. James Talarico. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in March that an early Trump endorsement would have saved “everybody a lot of money,” and has expressed confidence that Cornyn could win the runoff.
Cornyn has worked to repair his relationship with Trump and has publicly supported the president’s second-term agenda, but Trump and Cornyn have clashed previously over Cornyn’s comments questioning Trump’s 2024 electability.
Talarico, the Democratic nominee, downplayed the impact of Trump’s endorsement, saying in a statement, “it doesn’t matter who wins this runoff. We already know who we’re running against: the billionaire mega-donors and their corrupt political system.” He framed his campaign as focused on economic populism, arguing the main political fight is “top versus bottom.”
With the runoff just days away, the race frames a choice for Texas Republicans between loyalty to Trump and the party establishment’s calculations about electability in November. The outcome will determine which Republican faces Talarico in the general election and shape the Senate map heading into the fall.