Cornyn, Paxton headed to runoff in Texas GOP primary for US Senate
Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are headed to a May 26 runoff in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Cornyn was narrowly ahead of Paxton when early voting results were released and kept the lead into Tuesday night.
Cornyn won 41.7% of votes to Paxton’s 41%, with 96% of polling places reporting, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s office. U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a Houston Republican, received 13.4%.
Cornyn is hoping to hold onto his U.S. Senate seat for a fifth term, but found himself in his toughest primary yet as he faces Paxton and Hunt, who say the senator has been in Washington long enough. The race heads into a runoff if a single candidate doesn’t win more than 50% of votes.
Cornyn: ‘Judgment Day’ is coming for Paxton
“Elections are about choices and the choice in the Republican race for U.S. Senate is crystal clear,” Cornyn said. “I’ve worked for decades to build the Republican Party, both here in Texas and nationally. I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton risk everything we’ve worked so hard to build over these many years. There is simply too much at stake in this midterm election for our state and for our country.”
The incumbent senator did not hold a watch party, instead opting for a press conference-type event at a downtown Austin hotel. Soon after he took the mic, Cornyn declared “we’re on to the runoff.”
Cornyn said that if Paxton is named the Republican nominee after the May 26 runoff, there’s a “high risk” that the attorney general would lose the race and take other congressional races down with him.
“Ken Paxton as the nominee would be a dead weight at the top of the ticket for Republicans running all across this great state over the next 12 weeks,” he said.
Cornyn teased his strategy for the coming months.
“Over the next 12 weeks, Texas Republican primary voters will hear more about my record of delivering conservative victories in the United States Senate and learn more about Ken’s indefensible personal behavior and failures in office.”
Paxton confident he will win the seat in May
Paxton took to the stage at 10 p.m. at his watch party in Dallas to say he is certain he will be Texas’ next senator. Cornyn has held the seat for too long and has been more of a representation of D.C. than Texas, he said.
“Whether you were my strongest ally or you donated to fund the attacks against it, I want you to know that I’m going to fight every day to earn your support, because this is going to be the No. 1 Senate race in America targeted by the Democrats,” Paxton said. “We cannot let them take it.”
Republican influencer rallies Paxton’s watch party crowd
Sara Gonzales was the first to come to the stage at Paxton’s Marriott Uptown Dallas watch party Tuesday night. She told the crowd of about 150 that Cornyn won’t win the seat and there are “still a lot of votes to be counted.”
Gonzales said as a native Texan, she is “sick to death of these RINO Republicans staying in office for 250 years.” Cornyn has been in the seat since 2002.
As Senator, Cornyn has allowed illegal immigration and a “forever war” in Ukraine, Gonzales said. Paxton protected Texans from the Biden “regime” and will continue to deliver as a conservative fighter in the Senate, she said.
GOP’s U.S. Senate race background
The expensive, contentious race has drawn national attention as Republicans try to keep their majorities in the U.S. House and Senate, and Democrats try to flip Texas blue for the first time in decades.
Cornyn has campaigned on his congressional record and taken jabs at the embattled attorney general while making his case to voters across Texas. He argues that if Paxton is the Republican nominee, Democrats will have an easier path to victory in November.
Paxton has cast Cornyn as part of the Washington establishment and has highlighted his record as Texas attorney general, including taking on past Democratic administrations in court.
“I want you to know, I’m not going up to Washington, D.C., to join the swamp club,” Paxton, who served in the Texas Legislature before being elected as Texas Attorney General in 2014, said Feb. 28 at a Fort Worth event.
Paxton’s legal troubles were a fixture of the election cycle. He was impeached in 2023 for allegedly using his office to benefit a political donor, though he was acquitted in the Senate. He is also getting divorced from his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, a McKinney Republican, and has been accused of infidelity.
“I know people assume that Texas is a red state, will always be a red state, but when you nominate a flawed individual with the sort of political baggage that Ken Paxton has, you are risking all that,” Cornyn said during a Fort Worth campaign stop during the start of early voting.
Hunt, an Army veteran who joined the U.S. House in 2023, has offered himself as a fresh-faced, conservative alternative for voters.
Cornyn has the fundraising edge, raising some $25 million across his main campaign account and two joint fundraising accounts, according to Federal Election Commission records. Paxton has raised about $6 million, and Hunt has raised about $2 million.
Combined, this year’s Senate Republican and Democratic primaries in Texas are the most expensive on record, according to AdImpact, drawing millions in ad buys as advertisements flood prospective voter’s screens. The vast majority of that spending has been in support of Cornyn, the ad tracking company reports.
National Republicans and major donors have worked to try and keep the incumbent lawmaker in Washington. Despite the efforts, Republicans are worried that Cornyn — who they see as a more viable candidate in November against a Democrat than Paxton — will lose the primary, jeopardizing the GOP’s hold on the Senate as money is spent in Texas rather than battleground states like North Carolina, Georgia and Michigan, according to Politico.
Cornyn, Paxton and Hunt have all worked to link themselves to the president while on the campaign trail. The president has spoken positively about the three leading candidates, but hasn’t put his full weight behind one.
Some Republican donors had hoped a Trump endorsement of Cornyn could clear the field and avoid a costly runoff, according to Politico.
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 7:21 PM.
