Runoff Day Puts Texas GOP at a Crossroads
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton during a campaign event on May 20, 2026
Photographer: Mark Felix/Bloomberg
Texas Republicans are finally heading into what’s been looming over state politics for months: today’s Senate runoff between Ken Paxton and John Cornyn.
I’ve spent the past several weeks talking to operatives, lawmakers, and donors on both sides of the race, and the biggest question now is whether President Donald Trump’s late endorsement of Paxton fully consolidated the GOP base behind him, or whether Cornyn can still survive as the institutional Republican in a party increasingly defined by Trump-aligned populism.
The runoff has become one of the clearest tests yet of ...