GOP strategist Caroline Wren said on Breitbart News Saturday she opposes Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s bid for a fifth term, criticizing his record in the Senate and his past positions toward President Donald Trump while discussing the Republican primary runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle introduced Wren by noting she has been “a woman on a mission exposing Texas Senator John Cornyn,” and asked, “Why is he looking for another term in the US Senate? What is he really up to? Who is this guy?” Wren responded that the issue is personal to her because she is “born and raised in Texas,” adding, “John Cornyn, to me, represents I think everything is wrong with the US Senate.”
Wren argued Cornyn, who is “currently seeking his fifth term,” has “no actual accomplishments that he could point to, other than trying to restrict our Second Amendment rights,” while also contending that “in the last decade, this man has gone out of his way to attack Donald Trump and everything that America First stands for.” She said Cornyn would go “to MSNBC, CNN, C-span, NPR, all the outlets that despise Donald Trump,” and described him as “the last kind of stance in Texas from the old Bush guard.”
She also cast Cornyn as “an institutionalist,” saying he believes “his colleagues and the Democrats, you know, respect and play by the same rules that he does.” Wren said Republicans “learned this at the Kavanaugh hearings,” adding, “The Democrats have declared war on us, not the other way around,” and arguing that “Donald Trump changed that game. He blew that game up, and John Cornyn is so out of step.”
Wren further argued that a final term for Cornyn would create political risk for Trump, saying senators who no longer face voters often break with him. “This is why I think John Cornyn is particularly dangerous in giving him this last term,” she said, later adding, “Donald Trump’s endorsement is the most powerful endorsement in the country, and it is something that should be earned.” Wren said she does “not think John Cornyn has earned that endorsement.”
Asked where the race stands after the primary, Wren said unseating an incumbent senator is historically rare, noting that “an incumbent U.S. senator has not lost their primary since 2002.” She said Cornyn and allied groups spent heavily during the race, explaining that “John Cornyn and related committees, the NRSC, something called Senate Leadership Fund, which is a super PAC that John Thune controls,” spent large sums attacking Paxton. Wren said “they spent hundreds of millions,” adding that “they spent 70 to 100 million, we’re not exactly sure, at least 70 million on TV, then another 30 million on digital.” She argued that an incumbent senator who “spent $100 million to tie Ken Paxton, who spent 5 million” demonstrated weakness, saying, “ that’s actually pathetic.”
The strategist also described what she said was an internal fight over Trump’s potential endorsement. Wren said consultants tied to Trump’s political operation had urged him to support Cornyn by arguing “Ken Paxton will lose a general,” a case she called “preposterous.” She said Trump’s statement that he would make an endorsement “very soon” was followed by reports that he was set to back Cornyn, but that the situation shifted after more of Cornyn’s past comments surfaced and after Paxton responded by linking any decision to the SAVE AMERICA Act. “What Ken Paxton did was genius,” Wren said, adding that the move helped force Cornyn to change course by saying, “Okay, I believe I will support lifting the filibuster to get this passed.” Wren said Paxton’s move showed he was willing to put “your country over party,” adding that “you don’t see that anymore.”
Wren said that, in her view, Cornyn is now struggling politically, arguing, “for the last 10 days, we’ve seen John Cornyn absolutely flailing.” She said the absence of newly released survey results is telling: “These pollsters in the Cornyn campaign, they have been in the field every single day … and they have not released a single poll. Why? Well, because I think those polls are devastating for Cornyn.” Wren pointed to Paxton’s move tying his campaign to passage of the SAVE AMERICA Act, calling it “genius” and saying it showed he was willing to put “your country over party,” adding, “you don’t see that anymore.” Wren said her message to the White House has been, “either one, stay out and just don’t endorse,” or “endorse Ken Paxton, who, frankly, deserves your endorsement.”
Wren, who spent 15 years working as a political fundraiser and served as Trump’s “National Finance Director from 2016 through 2020,” said her experience with the Republican Attorneys General Association showed Paxton stood apart from other officeholders because he would not bend under donor pressure. “Their most hated person at RAGA … was Ken Paxton,” she said, recounting that lobbyists would approach him and “Ken Paxton would just say, ‘Thanks. Nice to see you.’ Get up and walk away, and he would double down on his lawsuit.” That, she argued, is “why Ken Paxton is so dangerous to the establishment.”
Wren cited a series of legal actions she said Paxton has brought, including lawsuits against “Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street,” Meta, Shein, Temu, major opioid companies, insulin manufacturers, and Eli Lilly, while also saying Paxton had “taken on the CCP.” She said those cases show “these senators, they schmooze in DC with these corporate PAC lobbyists who give them a $10,000 PAC check and say, Go vote one way,” but that “Ken Paxton is not going to do that.”
