Moments after President Donald Trump made his pick in the Texas Senate race, the mood among Senate Republicans immediately shifted.
Several were already en route to their weekly, closed-door lunch preparing to debate the now-stalled immigration funding package and lay out the road ahead for what was set to be a blistering week in the upper chamber.
But Trump’s decision to pick Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, turned even the chattiest of lawmakers stone-faced. And some worry that the choice will jeopardize a seat that has been safely Republican for decades.
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said that she was “supremely disappointed” by the move.
“I think that this puts that seat in jeopardy,” Murkowski said.
“Based on the numbers that I’ve seen, yeah,” she said. “How does that help strengthen the president’s hand when we lose a state like Texas?”
The runoff winner will face insurgent Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who easily toppled Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, earlier this year and has been racking up endorsements from high-profile Democrats, including former President Barack Obama.
History is on the side of Paxton should he come out on top. Texas hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1988. Still, many Republicans believed Cornyn was the better option. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who chaired the Senate GOP’s campaign arm that clinched the majority in 2024, told Fox News Digital that he was still backing Cornyn.
“I do believe we are going to pull Texas, but I think John Cornyn was the safest bet,” Daines said.
Cornyn has long thrashed Paxton for the scandals that followed him into the race, like his impeachment and alleged affair, and warned that should Paxton win, he’ll be an “albatross” for the GOP heading into November.
“It is now time for Texas Republican voters to decide if they want a strong nominee to help our GOP candidates down-ballot and defeat Talarico in November, or a weak nominee who jeopardizes everything we care about. I trust the Republican voters of Texas,” Cornyn said.
Paxton campaign strategist Nick Maddux told Fox News Digital that Paxton was a proven winner, having come out on top of three statewide elections.
“This is the only talking point the Cornyn campaign has because, after 42 years of accomplishing nothing, Cornyn has no record to run on,” Maddux said. “The bottom line is that Ken Paxton will be the Republican nominee for this fall, and we are ready to unite the party.”
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“The GOP is up against the most radical Democrat who’s ever run statewide in Texas, and Republicans need to come together to save our state from his extremist views,” he continued.
Still, Trump’s endorsement of Paxton a week ahead of the primary runoff battle between him and Cornyn sent a jolt through Senate Republicans, who were already still reeling from Sen. Bill Cassidy’s, R-La., primary loss to Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La.
Now that Election Day has arrived, Cornyn and Paxton will square off one last time this cycle. And many of Cornyn’s colleagues refused to jump ship and back Paxton, who several warned carried baggage that could imperil the seat.
“I thought Ken Paxton was a felon,” Cassidy told reporters.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who heavily lobbied Trump to back Cornyn, said that ultimately the Paxton endorsement was Trump’s call.
“Senator Cornyn is a principled conservative,” Thune said. “He is a very effective senator for the state of Texas. None of us control what the president does. He made his decision about that. That doesn’t change the way I feel, and I am certainly supportive of and will continue to be supportive of Senator Cornyn in his re-election.”