Texas GOP Senate Primary Race Gets Ugly Early

The most contentious Senate contest of 2026 is shaping up to be between two Republicans.

Since Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton declared his run to unseat Sen. John Cornyn, who has represented the Lone Star State since 2002, the two candidates have hammered each other with attack ads that question each other’s character and MAGA bona fides.

Paxton started out his campaign accusing Cornyn, 73, of not being a genuine supporter of President Donald Trump.

“He doesn’t represent the values of Texas. He has taken positions that are extremely unpopular, at least in the Republican base, and I think many Texans, as it relates to guns, as it relates to the border, as it even relates to President Trump,” said Paxton, 62.

“And I feel like he’s more loyal to [former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.] and the Washington establishment than he is to the Texas voters.”

In 2023, in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election, Cornyn told an interviewer that the Republican Party should move on from Trump. 

“Well, you know, in politics, unless you can win an election, you’re pretty much irrelevant,” Cornyn told the interviewer. “And I just think it’s critical that, given the direction of the country now into the Biden administration, that Republicans nominate somebody who can win a general election.”

In the wake of Cornyn’s announcement of his run for a fifth six-year term, a Cornyn campaign account on X called the state attorney general a “fraud” and said that he “claims to be a man of faith, but uses fake Uber accounts to meet his girlfriend and deceive his family.”

The attacks have not ceased.

Cornyn’s team has gone on the offensive, accusing Paxton of being “corrupt” in a recent ad.

Paxton has faced his share of legal troubles. The Texas attorney general was acquitted of 16 impeachment articles in September 2023, most of which were related to allegations that he had done favors for a political donor.

Now, Cornyn is trying to position himself as the true voice of law and order in Texas.

One of Cornyn’s newest attack ads accuses Paxton of being “too corrupt and compromised” to shut down the East Plano Islamic Center—a 402-acre Texas residential development designed for Muslims—which Cornyn says “is designed to be a safe haven for Shariah law.”

Cornyn has penned a letter to the Justice Department requesting that it investigate the Islamic center for potential discrimination against Christians and Jews.

Much of this ruthless campaign is likely to come down to who can convince Texas Republican primary voters that they best represent Trump’s agenda. 

Paxton has repeatedly aired ads highlighting Cornyn’s past criticisms of Trump, while Cornyn has touted his record of supporting Trump-backed legislation in the past.

It’s likely to be a tough race. Paxton reportedly decided to run against Cornyn after internal polling showed him with a lead of over 20 points over the incumbent senator.

Paxton’s run also received encouraging signals when a February University of Houston poll of Republicans showed that 36% of past and future Republican primary voters “definitely would consider” voting for him, compared to 32% for Cornyn.

According to Ballotpedia, the date of the 2026 Texas Republican primary has not yet been set.

Jacob Adams contributed to this report.

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