Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton came out swinging against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Monday in his first rally since launching his primary Senate campaign, hitting Cornyn as an establishment candidate with an uncompelling record.
With early voting for Texas’s 2026 primary elections starting on Tuesday, Paxton is starting a series of in-person rallies as he steps up his efforts in his race to unseat four-term Cornyn. Both Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) are running in the GOP primary against Cornyn, who is seeking a fifth term in the U.S. Senate.
“We have so many issues that we need to deal with, from the deficit, to China, to better judges, to actually representing Texas values on the Second Amendment,” Paxton said during Monday’s rally. “Check my record from beginning to end, and it is consistently conservative on all of those issues. When I go to D.C., you’re going to get somebody that actually takes action, that actually looks out for you, that’s not just stuck in Washington, that actually cares about what you care about, because I am you.”
Without mentioning fellow primary challenger Hunt in his Monday evening speech, Paxton aimed his sights at Cornyn, who leads significantly in the fundraising aspect of the race and is spending big on negative advertisements against Paxton.
Cornyn broke his own fundraising record by the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, bringing his cash on hand to $15 million. Cornyn and his allies have spent over $54 million on advertisements in the primary campaign cycle for the race.
“I didn’t get 30 million from D.C. His money is coming from the D.C. establishment, and that’s how he can afford these commercials, and that’s how they always try to convince us, in Washington, with their money, that we should select their person,” Paxton said.
“I’m not their person, and I will never be their person. I’m going to stay here and fight for you all,” Paxton continued.
Cornyn’s campaign has portrayed the possibility of a Paxton primary win as a win for Democrats in the general election, due to his staunch conservative views and personal scandals. Democrats have a contested primary of their own, between Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
Cornyn campaign senior advisor Matt Mackowiak responded to Paxton’s comments in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“Ken Paxton has betrayed the trust of his family, his senior staff at the Attorney General’s office, and taxpayers time and time again,” he said. “Republicans everywhere see the reality: Sen. Cornyn has been highly effective at passing conservative reforms and is our strongest GOP nominee in a midterm election where we are facing headwinds and the stakes are sky high. After hiding for ten months, Ken did his first public campaign event last night. But he will not escape accountability in this race. Character is on the ballot and Sen. Cornyn believes character counts and that Texas Republican prove that it does.”
President Donald Trump refused to endorse any of the three GOP candidates on Monday, saying Cornyn, Paxton, and Hunt have each earned his support.
TEXAS OPENS EARLY VOTING FOR COMPETITIVE PRIMARY RACES
“They’ve all supported me, they’re all good, and you’re supposed to pick one. So we’ll see what happens, but I support all three,” Trump said.
In the most recent Emerson College poll from January, Paxton led Cornyn by 1 point. The primary election is set for March 3, with a runoff, if necessary, likely in May.
