With one week to go before Election Day and early voting already underway, President Donald Trump has made a long-awaited endorsement in Texas' Republican primary runoff for the U.S. Senate.
Trump on Tuesday backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is challenging incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in what has been described as a"bitter" campaign.
“I know Ken well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a WINNER!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
The endorsement has the potential to sway voters in what has been an extremely close contest so far.
According to a poll conducted by Slingshot Strategieson behalf of Texas Public Opinion Research last month, a Trump endorsement of Paxton would widen the attorney general's lead over Cornyn to an overwhelming 55% to 35%, while a Trump endorsement of Cornyn would still leave the incumbent senator trailing Paxton by 45% to 42%.
The announcement caps months of uncertainty. Trump had teased his intention to endorse a candidate in the election repeatedly, startingsoon afterCornyn and Paxton emerged as the remaining contenders from thefirst round of the primaryin March.
As recently aslast Friday, Trump told a press gaggle aboard Air Force One that he might soon weigh in, attacking Austin state Rep. James Talarico, theDemocratic nominee, as “weird.”
A poll released this week by Texas Southern University's Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center indicated that, in hypothetical general election matchups in November, Paxton and Cornyn are both in statistical dead heats against Talarico.
Cornyn edged out Paxton in the first round of the primary in March, but he failed to garner more than 50% of the vote, the threshold for avoiding a runoff. That was in part due to a spoiler campaign by Houston-area U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt.
Attack ads in the Republican Senate contesthave reached a fever pitch over the past few weeks. Commercials for Cornyn have highlighted Paxton’salleged corruption in office— for which he was impeached but not convicted — as well as his marital infidelity and ongoingdivorcefrom state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, as evidence he is not worthy of the party's nomination.
Commercials for Paxton have accused Cornyn of lackluster support for Trump, weakness on border security and immigration, and fostering ties with groups promoting “radical Islamic terror,” despite Cornyn’s promotinglegislation to crack down on Muslim immigration.
Mark Jones, a political science fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, previously told Houston Public Media that, even with Trump's endorsement, the bitterness between the Cornyn and Paxton camps could linger for months, potentially making it difficult for the party to unite behind the primary runoff winner as he takes on Talarico in the fall.
Early voting in the primary runoff began Monday and continues through Friday. Election Day is next Tuesday, May 26.
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