Trump on endorsing Cornyn or Paxton in Texas Senate runoff: 'I'll make a decision'

Comments: by Adam Schwager - 05/09/26 3:21 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Adam Schwager - 05/09/26 3:21 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING AUSTIN (Nexstar) — President Donald Trump said he ll make a decision… maybe relatively soon, on who he wants to endorse in the Republican runoff primary for Texas s U.S. Senate seat. So far, Trump has played Kingmaker in Republican politics. According to Ballotpedia, he s endorsed 286 candidates in Republican 2026 primaries across the country, including weighing in on 19 of the 33 primaries for U.S. Senate. One race he s stayed out of so far — the contentious primary in Texas between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, R. After months of speculation, Trump declined to weigh in on the race ahead of the initial March 3 primary — despite making a whole host of other endorsements on a Corpus Christi visit on the last day of early voting. We have a great Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump said. And we have a great senator, John Cornyn. Without a Trump endorsement, neither candidate took home more than 50% of the first-round vote — with U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, playing spoiler to send the pair to a runoff. Of note, Cornyn took home 42% of the vote while Paxton took home 40.5%, despite Paxton leading in nearly every poll leading up to the election. This isn t the first time Trump said he s about to weigh in on this race. The day after the first round of voting, Trump declared on TruthSocial, I will be making an Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE! At the time, the Atlantic reported that Trump was leaning towards endorsing Cornyn. They cited Cornyn s surprising first-round victory and the desire for Republicans to avoid an expensive primary runoff while Democratic candidate State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, gets a head-start on the general election. One day later, Paxton made a public play for the President s endorsement. The SAVE America Act is the most important bill the U.S. Senate could ever pass, and I m committed to helping President Trump get it done, Paxton posted on X. I would consider dropping out of this race if Senate Leadership agrees to lift the filibuster and passes the SAVE America Act. The SAVE America Act is a key priority for Trump, and would require voters to show proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to vote. While it has support from the Republican-led Senate, they do not have the 60 votes need to avoid a filibuster. Senate leader John Thune, R-S.D., has consistently rebuked the idea of eliminating the 60-vote filibuster, and said he doesn t have the support to implement it. So far, the gambit appears to have worked. It s been 65 days since Trump announced his intention to weigh in on the race, and until Thursday, he remained relatively silent. Trump s endorsement could be the deciding factor in this race. Of the 119 Trump-endorsed candidates who ve had elections so far this year, only six have lost. And one of those six losses might be due to the timing of his endorsement more than anything else. Donald Trump set a precedent with his endorsement of (Texas Comptroller nominee) Don Huffines and (incumbent Texas Agriculture Commissioner) Sid Miller… where he was willing to wait until the last day of early voting to make his endorsement known to the public, Rice University professor and University of Houston pollster Mark P. Jones said. That turned out to be too late for Sid Miller. Early voting for the primary runoff starts on May 18, with election day on May 26. One would assume that if he is going to endorse, he would do so before the start of early voting, Jones said. But in this case… until dawn on election day, May 26, we can t actually rule out (a) Donald Trump endorsement. On Thursday, April 30, Nexstar caught up with Paxton in San Antonio and asked him about the reporting around Trump s potential endorsement from early March. Paxton took the opportunity to contrast him and Cornyn s campaign styles. His money comes from D.C., Paxton said. He doesn t campaign because his money comes from D.C. He spent $100 million, and I spent $5.8 (million)… And fortunately for us, we re now in a runoff where more educated voters vote and we also have another 18% of the vote that didn t go to him or me that is much more likely to go to me. On Friday, Nexstar caught up with Cornyn in Dripping Springs. I think he was leaning toward me (in early March) and he said the person he didn t endorse to drop out. And Paxton immediately said No, he wouldn t drop out which I think caused some consternation on the part of the President, Cornyn said about the first endorsement saga. I think his hesitation is he calls us both friends, and I think he doesn t want to disappoint his supporters, who may be supporters of one or the other of us, Cornyn said about Trump s lack of an endorsement so far. He s the only one who will m

Trump on endorsing Cornyn or Paxton in Texas Senate runoff: 'I'll make a decision'

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