President Donald Trump had endorsed Paxton ahead of the runoff election.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has won the GOP runoff election for US Senate against incumbent Senator John Cornyn. President Donald Trump had endorsed Paxton ahead of the runoff election.
The race was called by Decision Desk at 9 pm Eastern Time with 56 percent of the votes in.
The results from the runoff election come after Paxton and Cornyn advanced from a primary where GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt had been able to shave off 13.5 percent of the vote in March. At the time, Cornyn had 41.9 percent, and Paxton had 40.7 percent in the primary. Since nobody crossed the 50 percent threshold the first time, that resulted in the runoff between Paxton and Cornyn on Tuesday.
The GOP Senate primary in Texas has been the most expensive in US history, with a whopping $128 million in campaign ad spending in the state. The race tested the durability of how much President Donald Trump’s endorsement weighs primary elections after Trump has had a number of wins in recent primary elections with candidates he has endorsed.
Cornyn has attacked Paxton over scandals, claiming that he is not fit for the Senate and Paxton has hit Cornyn hard over legislation, claiming that Cornyn has been a RINO (Republican in name only) in the “DC swamp” during his tenure.
Paxton was endorsed by Trump ahead of the primary in a Truth Social post where the president said, that Paxton is a “fighter and knows how to win” and later added, “Ken Paxton has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next United States Senator from the Great State of Texas.”
Although Trump endorsed Paxton, he said that Cornyn was a “good man” but was “not supportive of me when times were tough.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted in light of Paxton’s victory, “Congratulations Ken Paxton on the resounding victory. Next, he will destroy Talarico and become the next US Senator from the state of Texas.”
In other races that have taken place around the country, Trump’s endorsement has similarly held up against incumbent lawmakers. Rep. Thomas Massie lost to candidate Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL who was endorsed by Trump. Ahead of the Kentucky primary, Massie had attacked Trump online but also ran ads in the state showing his support for many of the president’s policies. Despite Massie’s campaign strategy and attacks against Gallrein, the challenger was able to beat Massie without a debate and relied on Trump’s endorsement to get him the win in Kentucky.
Trump endorsed candidates have won a slate of primaries against incumbents over the last several weeks as well, including the unseating of Senator Bill Cassidy in Louisiana. Cassidy was not able to advance to a runoff election that will now take place between Trump-endorsed candidate Julia Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming.
