The two have been locked in a feud for years. Now that Paxton has officially declared his intention to challenge Cornyn for the Senate seat he’s held since 2002, we at the Observer feel confident in predicting that the 2026 primary is going to get dirty, personal and void of all perspective on what matters to working Texans, real quick.
Paxton officially announced his decision to run Tuesday night, launching a campaign website and appearing on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show to share the message. In his first public appearance as a Senate hopeful, Paxton emphasized what is, in his eyes, a lackluster record from Cornyn.
Echoing the thoughts of Texans everywhere, Paxton added that he hopes to be a senator who follows in the footsteps of Ted Cruz. (Because that’s apparently what people think when they see Sen. Cruz. They want more, at least here in Texas.)
“It's time we have another great senator that will actually stand up and fight for Republican values, fight for the values of the people of Texas, and also support Donald Trump in the areas that he's focused on in a very significant way,” Paxton said. “And that's what I plan on doing.”
Early polling has shown that Paxton could lead Cornyn by 25 points in a Republican primary and go on to defeat a Democratic candidate, albeit by tighter margins. When cornered by reporters on Capitol Hill shortly after Paxton’s campaign was made public, Cornyn wasted no time on niceties.
“Mr. Paxton has a checkered background,” Cornyn rebutted. “He's a con man and a fraud."
How the Beef Started
It’s hard to say what the relationship between Paxton and Cornyn looked like behind closed doors before 2022, but speaking with reporters during Paxton’s third campaign for the AG's office, it seemed clear Cornyn held the man in frosty regard.Cornyn was Texas’ attorney general once long ago, and it seemed Paxton’s various legal troubles — felony securities fraud indictment, the state bar investigation into Paxton’s ethics, the FBI investigation into abuse of office and claims of marital infidelity — had resulted in Cornyn losing some respect for the man.
“I will tell you that I remain very disturbed by the fact that the incumbent has had an indictment hanging over his head, for now, I don’t know, what has it been, six years? This is the chief law enforcement officer of the state of Texas. And it’s a source of embarrassment to me that that has been unresolved,” Cornyn told reporters. “As a former attorney general myself, I’m embarrassed by what we’re having to deal with."
Hard to run from prison, Ken https://t.co/6oQ3oMqjCN
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) February 29, 2024
From there, Paxton decided to take the fight online, as real men do. Posting to X, Paxton accused Cornyn of being too willing to work with Democratic senators and of representing “the Bush wing of the GOP.”
A cornerstone of Paxton’s attack on the incumbent senator has been the claim that Cornyn isn’t Republican enough; ironic, considering Cornyn is on the record as saying states should have the right to ban gay marriage, he was opposed to the removal of Confederate statues and voted against starting an independent commission designed to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. That all sounds pretty Republican to us.
But Cornyn did lose some ground with Republicans later in 2022 after helping usher forward a bipartisan-backed gun control measure in the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 people dead.
Cornyn was uniquely credited with shepherding the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act through the Senate. The act increased funding for crisis intervention programs and school safety initiatives, extended background checks for firearm purchasers under 21, and further criminalized arms trafficking. It was the first significant piece of gun control legislation to pass in decades, and a more extreme faction of Republicans was unhappy with the role Cornyn had played.
The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act was rebuked by Cruz, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, all of whom are Paxton allies. And for Cornyn, no amount of support for the MAGA movement or President Donald Trump, who by that point was already gearing up for his third presidential campaign, has been able to shake Paxton’s increasingly hostile attention.
Blows on Social Media
The rift between Cornyn and Paxton was further publicized last year. It was emblematic of the inter-party split between traditional Republicans and those who are more MAGA-minded, and Paxton threw the first punch.In February 2024, Cornyn was one of 22 Republican senators voting in support of a foreign aid package that sent money to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. Taking to X, Paxton said it was “unbelievable” that Cornyn would “stay up all night to defend other countries borders, but not America.”
Two hours later, Cornyn responded to Paxton’s outrage and once again raised the issue of the AG’s ongoing legal woes.
“Ken, your criminal defense lawyers are calling to suggest you spend less time pushing Russian propaganda and more time defending longstanding felony charges against you in Houston, as well as ongoing federal grand jury proceedings in San Antonio that will probably result in further criminal charges,” Cornyn wrote.
In response, Paxton doubled down on his belief that Cornyn is a Republican sellout, calling him an “America Last RINO.” The phrase RINO has been popularized in MAGA circles as meaning “Republican In Name Only.”
Later that month, Paxton made what appears to be his first threat against Cornyn’s 2026 re-election campaign. In response to a social media post stating that Cornyn declined to say whether or not he’d be interested in running for Senate leader, Paxton said Republicans “deserve better” and warned that Cornyn would soon “be focused on his highly competitive primary campaign in 2026.”
Cornyn shot back, “Hard to run from prison, Ken.”
A Testy 2026
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Paxton seemed to confirm that his Senate run is endorsed by President Trump. While he said he hasn’t spoken with the president personally about the campaign, he had floated the idea by members of the administration and heard “nothing negative, that’s for sure.”Paxton's campaign website bills himself as “the fighter they couldn’t cancel.” And while Cornyn was quick to jump on Paxton’s many felony charges as a form of ammunition, Paxton has since settled each of the cases.
Axios reports that the Republican consulting firm Axiom Strategies, the firm of choice of one Sen. Ted Cruz, has been tapped to lead Paxton’s campaign. Some believe that the Paxton-Cornyn race could become the most expensive GOP primary in 2026, something Cornyn noted yesterday that could actually be good for Democrats.
“The biggest potential loser is President Trump’s agenda,” Cornyn said. “We’re going to end up spending hundreds of millions of dollars, potentially, on this race in Texas … that is money that can’t be used in places like Michigan, New Hampshire and Georgia in the midterm elections.”
