Photo: AFP
The race between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton is heating up, with President Trump recently announcing that he is planning on making an endorsement. He did, however, decline to say which of the two GOP candidates would get his support or when he’ll make the decision.
Political analyst Vlad Davidiuk thinks that Trump is going to give both Paxton and Cornyn, who have both been moving closer to Trump in recent months, plenty of time to earn his endorsement.
He said, "Both candidates are eager to receive the endorsement of President Trump; they both understand that the endorsement of President Trump is going to be the key deciding factor in this race."
Davidiuk went on to say that Trump may use his endorsement as leverage to ensure that Cornyn continues to support his agenda in the Senate. Davidiuk said, "He depends on Senator Cornyn to push legislation through the Senate. Even though Republicans do enjoy a majority, it’s a very slim majority."
Unfortunately for Cornyn, he has undoubtedly fallen out of favor with the GOP base for a number of reasons, including his support of a controversial gun control bill back in 2022. Ken Paxton, on the other hand, has won strong support among the GOP base thanks to his strong action against the Biden administration during his time as Attorney General.
Paxton has also been a close ally of the President for some time, even going so far as to appear with the President in the courtroom during his Manhattan criminal trial last year.
So how will Trump decide whom to throw his support behind, and when can we expect an announcement? Davidiuk thinks Trump will allow the primary process to play out before making any major announcements.
He said, "Once fundraising numbers have really started to trickle in, once we’ve started to see where some of those key grassroots endorsements line up, at that point, President Trump will probably start making hints about his choice."