Trump lashes out at Cornyn and Rove, blaming them if Paxton loses Texas Senate race
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President Donald Trump claimed that a defeat for Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton would be the fault of Sen. John Cornyn and strategist Karl Rove, while polls show Democrat James Talarico with a narrow lead.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that if Texas Senate nominee Ken Paxton is defeated, the blame will fall on incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn and conservative commentator Karl Rove. Trump accused the two of "doing everything possible to make it hard" for Paxton, the state attorney general, to beat Democratic candidate James Talarico.
"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," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Recent polls show Talarico holding a low-to-mid single-digit lead over Paxton, making the race one of the most competitive contests in the 2026 midterm cycle. Texas, a traditionally Republican state that has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1988, voted for Trump over Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by nearly 14 points in 2024.
Cornyn’s office and Rove did not respond to requests for comment. Trump’s endorsement of Paxton in the GOP primary was widely seen as a direct challenge to Cornyn, whom the president has previously called disloyal. The contest has drawn substantial funding, with GOP spending exceeding $370 million, outpacing Democratic expenditures by about $235 million, according to AdImpact.
Trump has also attacked Rove in past posts, calling him a "loser" and urging media outlets to stop featuring him. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Rove said he would support a Democratic candidate in a different Texas race, marking only the second time he would vote for a Democrat.