TEXAS — President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the May 26 Republican Senate runoff against incumbent John Cornyn. Neither candidate secured a majority in the primary earlier this spring, when Cornyn narrowly finished ahead of Paxton.

Cornyn, 74, is serving his fourth term in the Senate. His voting record has been described as anti-abortion, anti-immigration and pro-gun. In 2012, the National Journal listed him as the second most conservative member of the chamber. According to his campaign, Cornyn has voted with Trump 99.2 percent of the time. After the Uvalde school shooting, he signaled openness to a mild form of gun control, and he did not vote to overturn the 2020 election. Cornyn has proposed renaming a roughly seventeen-hundred-mile stretch of road "Trump Interstate" and has called the president "the most consequential President of our lifetime."

Paxton rose to prominence in Texas politics riding the Tea Party wave and has faced financial allegations, personal scandals and whistle-blower complaints from his employees. In 2023, he was accused of abusing the power of his office to support a donor and was impeached by the Texas House, with a majority of Republicans voting to oust him. He was acquitted by the Texas Senate.

The impeachment proceedings included testimony about Paxton's alleged extramarital affair with an aspiring Christian influencer. His wife, state senator Angela Paxton, listened to the proceedings but was barred from voting. She later announced that she was divorcing him "on biblical grounds."

Cornyn has sharply criticized his opponent. "Mr. Paxton has a checkered background. He is a con man and a fraud, and I think the people of Texas know that," he said. "I am not going to turn over the Senate seat that was once held by Sam Houston to someone like him."

Paxton has described the financial disparity in campaign fundraising, in which Cornyn has raised more money, as evidence of his grassroots bona fides. Both sides have spent money on attack ads, with one describing Paxton as having "the ethics of a strip club owner" and another describing Cornyn as wanting "to take our guns."

Republican political consultant Brendan Steinhauser said Paxton is "more in tune and connected with right-wing-podcast influencer types," while Cornyn is supported by "the donor class and Republican women's groups." Steinhauser ran Cornyn's 2014 campaign.

A few months after Paxton announced his candidacy, the Cook Political Report moved the race from "Solid Republican" to "Likely Republican." The report has also stated that if Paxton wins the nomination, the race's designation will shift to "Lean Republican."