GOP leaders want Trump to endorse Cornyn in Texas Senate race

A group of Republicans on Capitol Hill is urging President Donald Trump to intervene in Texas’s increasingly bitter three-way Senate primary, warning that the intraparty clash could spiral into being the GOP’s most expensive race of the 2026 cycle.

The concern centers on Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) bruising contest against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX), a race widely expected to head to a runoff. Party officials fear that if Cornyn falls and Paxton becomes the nominee, Republicans could be forced to spend at least $200 million to defend a seat they once treated as safely red.