The three-man Republican Texas U.S. Senate race is getting closer, even as one candidate has a strong lead in campaign cash. The latest campaign finance reports show Sen. John Cornyn with about $10.5 million in total campaign funds on hand, while Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton has about $3.2 million, and Congressman Wesley Hunt, who just entered the race weeks ago, has about $1.5 million. For his part, Paxton claims he is actually leading in funding if you take away outside PACs and joint fundraising committees that are added to Cornyn's total due to the power of his incumbency.
Regardless of who has the most money, the race for voter support appears as tight as ever. The most recent poll has Paxton at 34%, Cornyn at 33% and Hunt at 22% among GOP voters. "Money matters, but not as much in a Republican primary," says Chris Begala, political strategist.
Begala believes in this race, the most important factor could be the potential endorsement of President Donald Trump. "Trump is THE figure in all of politics," he says. "So if Trump comes in strong for one of the candidates, it could be goodnight Irene...if he does nothing, then it looks like it will go to a runoff."
Whether Trump makes that endorsement remains a mystery. So far, the president has played coy, hinting that he may make an endorsement at some point and noting that he likes both Cornyn and Paxton. Trump has also been a strong ally of Hunt and endorsed him in past races, so all three candidates have a legitimate claim to the prized endorsement. "With the non-Trump factor---if he does not jump in---it's going to go to a runoff," says Begala. "If Trump decides to jump in, that could push any of those three, even Hunt, well over 50 percent."
Photo: Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images News / Getty Images