Sen. John Cornyn looks to overcome Paxton primary challenge by embracing Trump

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WASHINGTON — Over his 22 years in Congress, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has amassed untold power within the Republican Party, serving on high-ranking committees and ascending his party’s leadership ranks.

But the Republican base that sent Cornyn to the Senate in 2002 has transformed. GOP voters have turned to the right, prizing partisan fighters like President Donald Trump and championing culture war issues over the traditional pillars of fiscal prudence and small government.

Out of that movement has come Cornyn’s 2026 primary challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is harnessing his reputation as a no-holds-barred conservative to position himself as the president’s warrior from outside the Washington beltway in which Cornyn has been ingrained.

With Cornyn’s establishment ties putting his reelection bid in jeopardy, Texas’ senior senator is going all in on emphasizing his support for Trump — something he has been previously wary to do — to court the MAGA base that will be key to winning next year’s primary. Over the past several months, Cornyn has played up his conservative bona fides and allegiance to Trump's agenda through the bully pulpit of his office, issuing public declarations, holding hearings and embracing the president's favorite issues — even posting a photo of himself reading Trump’s “Art of the Deal” book.

Those efforts appear aimed at combating the perception among some GOP voters that Cornyn is not conservative enough and has spent too long in Washington, fueled by his role in passing the first gun safety bill in a generation and his ties to Senate GOP leadership.

His close ally, former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, has vocally opposed Trump at several turns, making him a pariah among some on the right. During Trump’s first term, Cornyn served as the Senate whip, McConnell’s second-in-command tasked with counting votes and arm-twisting senators into backing the party’s agenda. He parlayed that role into a failed bid to succeed McConnell, further underscoring his establishment ties to skeptics.

The narrative that Cornyn is out of step with Trump is being challenged by his campaign and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the campaign wing of the Senate GOP.

Nick Puglia, a spokesperson for the NRSC, said the group is throwing its weight — which includes a multimillion-dollar war chest — behind Cornyn, highlighting his alliance with Trump “to deliver big wins for Texans and fight for the president’s agenda in the U.S. Senate.”

Cornyn, meanwhile, has marched in lockstep with the president. His team has hired operatives from Trump’s orbit, including the president’s former campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio and adviser Chris LaCivita. And he has voted to confirm all of Trump’s cabinet nominees, including several controversial picks opposed by some of his Republican colleagues, like McConnell.

The senior Texas senator has also made efforts to praise Trump at nearly every turn.

When the president was considering strikes against Iran earlier this month, Cornyn took a measured tone. He called the possible use of U.S. munitions “a continuation of the current policy” toward Israel but emphasized that the American military did not need “to take the lead in this effort.”

After Trump ordered a strike on three Iranian nuclear facilities, Cornyn praised the commander-in-chief, saying he “made the courageous and correct decision to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat” and called Trump “indomitable.”

As Trump’s 100th day in office approached, Cornyn wrote an op-ed boasting that he was working “hand-in-glove” to implement the party leader’s agenda in Washington.

The senator has also taken up some of Trump’s pet issues. In March, Trump first questioned the validity of pardons issued by former President Joe Biden due to his alleged use of an autopen to sign the documents — a tool used by presidents dating back to Barack Obama. Pairing claims of mental decline with the pen, Trump alleged that Biden was unaware of documents being signed in his name, so they were “null and void.” Biden has denied the allegations.

Cornyn has since capitalized on the issue, wielding his senatorial powers to hold a recent hearing into the allegations and sending a May letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking the attorney general to launch a probe into the matter. Two weeks later, Pardon Attorney Ed Martin opened an investigation, according to a senior administration official who noted that Martin was acting independently of the White House.

Courting Trump’s support has become routine in a Republican Party whose leaders have displayed remarkable deference to the president and his whims, given the sway he holds over the GOP base.

But gladhanding Trump is something Cornyn has vacillated on. He started out as a Trump skeptic in 2016, calling him an “albatross around the down-ballot races” before eventually backing him. When Trump first tried to emerge from political exile in hopes of being re-elected in 2024, Cornyn was wary, saying Trump’s “time has passed him by.” He again changed his tune once Trump won the New Hampshire primary, going public with an endorsement.

Despite his past skepticism, Cornyn seems to recognize just how much sway Trump has over this election, with his coveted endorsement carrying the potential to bolster Cornyn’s conservative cred — or compound his uphill climb if Trump backs Paxton.

Matt Mackowiak, a senior adviser on Cornyn’s campaign, said Cornyn “has been a strong supporter of President Trump, and that’s really not up for debate.” He highlighted the senator’s time serving as the GOP’s Senate whip, during which he wrangled his colleagues’ votes to push through landmark legislative achievements during Trump’s first term, including tax cuts and confirmation of Supreme Court nominees.

Cornyn has been in touch with the president directly, Mackowiak said, to pitch “our plan to win the primary and the enormous cost and political risk if Paxton is the nominee.”

Paxton’s team has also been privately lobbying Trump’s circle for the president’s backing, according to a senior staffer with the Paxton campaign who was granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Cornyn’s efforts to align himself with Trump have yet to strengthen his record in the eyes of primary voters as he trails Paxton in a two-way hypothetical primary by more than 15 points in multiple polls.

Brendan Steinhauser, a GOP strategist who ran Cornyn’s successful 2014 reelection, said he views the senator’s recent positions as an authentic reflection of his conservative ideology. But Steinhauser added that he’s “not going to pretend like the primary has nothing to do with all this,” noting that the tough race has forced Cornyn to message a little differently by “highlighting his conservative record.”

Mackowiak also insists that Cornyn’s recent moves do not mark a change in his views.

”There’s a false perception about Cornyn’s actual record, and it’s part of our job to make sure that people understand what it actually is,” he said.

Sam Cooper, a strategist for the Paxton-aligned Lone Star Liberty PAC, thinks voters will see through this strategy.

“I don’t think it’s lost on anybody that he’s picked up a lot more interest in these issues in an election year,” he said.

Texas’ attorney general has his own baggage to contend with. He was indicted in 2015 on security fraud charges before agreeing to perform community service and pay restitution in exchange for prosecutors dropping the case. The GOP-controlled Texas House also impeached Paxton in 2023, before the state Senate ultimately voted to acquit him. The Associated Press also reported that the DOJ decided not to prosecute Paxton in the waning weeks of Biden’s term, effectively closing a federal corruption investigation.

Nick Maddux, a Paxton adviser, painted these accusations much as Trump did in the 2024 election: as notches in the attorney general’s warrior-like record.

“Everyone’s come after him, and he literally won’t stop fighting — and he's won every battle,” Maddux said.

Cooper drew explicit parallels between Paxton and Trump’s alleged wrongdoing, saying, “just like President Trump, Attorney General Paxton has received his fair share of lawfare, and each and every time he's stood up and won.”

Mackowiak said Paxton’s legal history is certain to play into Cornyn’s campaign messaging, as they are “not sure” whether the electorate has come to grips with the attorney general’s past actions. He also sent a shot across the bow at the Paxton camp, warning that there is more to the attorney general’s record than what “has been out there for voters to see, hear and read.”

In this political minefield, many elected Republicans have remained on the sidelines, having found themselves in a lose-lose situation where they would incur the wrath of fellow Republicans no matter who they support.

Sen. Ted Cruz has told Dallas’ ABC affiliate that he will not endorse in the primary.

Rep. Michael McCaul, who served under Cornyn when he was the state’s attorney general over two decades ago, declined to say which candidate he was backing. But he criticized the race itself, calling it “unfortunate.” The Austin Republican’s biggest gripe was with the millions of dollars that are certain to pour into the race for both candidates, rather than in states “where we could pick up seats.”

“We’ve got a long way to go,” said U.S. Rep. Keith Self of McKinney, who also declined to endorse a candidate. “Grab your popcorn, and let’s see what happens.”

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