Trump says 'if Ken Paxton loses' Texas Senate race, blame Cornyn and Karl Rove
Polls show GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton trailing Democratic Rep. James Talarico in the Texas Senate race.
Key points
- Trump said a Paxton loss would be the fault of Cornyn and Karl Rove.
- Polls show Democrat James Talarico leading Paxton by low-to-mid single digits.
- GOP spending in the Texas Senate race has topped $370 million.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that if Texas Senate nominee Ken Paxton loses, incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn and conservative commentator Karl Rove will be to blame. Trump accused the two of "doing everything possible to make it hard" for Paxton, the state's attorney general, to defeat Democratic nominee James Talarico.
Trump's post on Truth Social came as Texas has become one of the most competitive battlegrounds of the 2026 midterm cycle. Recent polls show state Rep. Talarico leading Paxton by low-to-mid single digits.
A reliably red state
Texas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1988. In 2024, Texans backed Trump over Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by nearly 14 percentage points.
Cornyn's office and Rove did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment on Trump's post.
If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career.
— Donald Trump
Primary endorsement and spending
Trump's endorsement of Paxton in the GOP primary dealt a major blow to four-term incumbent Cornyn, whom the president viewed as disloyal. The move was also seen as a gamble, given Paxton's history of scandal and opposition within his own party.
Groups backing Republicans have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the Texas contest, making it the most expensive race of the cycle. GOP spending has topped $370 million so far, eclipsing Democratic spending by nearly $235 million, according to AdImpact.
