{"id":31784,"date":"2025-01-28T21:03:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T21:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/key-trump-ally-to-decide-on-possible-run-against-leading-republican-in-next-couple-of-months\/"},"modified":"2025-01-28T21:03:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T21:03:39","slug":"key-trump-ally-to-decide-on-possible-run-against-leading-republican-in-next-couple-of-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/28\/key-trump-ally-to-decide-on-possible-run-against-leading-republican-in-next-couple-of-months\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Trump ally to decide on possible run against leading Republican in ‘next couple of months’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking to Republican Party members in Denton County Monday night, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/u><\/a>, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, listed several Republicans he plans to purge from the Texas GOP for being insufficiently conservative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among those on Paxton\u2019s list was Texas\u2019 senior U.S. Sen. John Cornyn<\/u><\/a>, one of the most powerful members of the Senate GOP.<\/p>\n

The crowd erupted into loud applause as Paxton said, “The second thing we need to do, and I might play a role in this, is replace John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate.”<\/p>\n

GARY PETERS, DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FROM TRUMP STATE, WON’T SEEK RE-ELECTION<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The attorney general, who worked with the Trump team to file a lawsuit in December that successfully secured a court order<\/u><\/a> stopping the Biden administration from continuing sales of border wall materials, has long hinted at a potential run to replace Cornyn.<\/p>\n

“I can\u2019t think of a single thing he\u2019s accomplished for our state or even for the country,” Paxton said in a September 2023 interview on the Fox News Channel. And pointing to a possible Senate run in 2026, Paxton said, “Somebody needs to step up and run against this guy,” adding, “everything\u2019s on the table for me.”<\/p>\n

In an interview with Fox News Digital, Paxton gave more credence to the rumors, saying despite “loving what I\u2019m doing \u2026 I\u2019m looking potentially at the U.S. Senate<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

He shared that he is in talks with groups in Texas about a possible 2026 Senate run and will likely decide in the “next couple of months.”<\/p>\n

Paxton claimed Cornyn does not represent the conservative values of Texans and accused him of not being an ally of Trump.<\/p>\n

He has also regularly labeled Cornyn a “RINO,” a “Republican in name only” and an insult MAGA and “America First” Republicans have regularly used to criticize more mainstream or establishment members of the GOP.<\/p>\n

PETE BUTTIGIEG GIVING ‘SERIOUS LOOK’ TO 2026 SENATE RUN IN TRUMP-WON MICHIGAN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Another source close to Paxton told Fox News Digital the attorney general “plans to spend the next few months meeting with voters, donors and grassroots activists across the state to gauge interest and decide how he can serve Texas best.”<\/p>\n

The attorney general has faced his own set of challenges. In 2022, he defeated a primary effort by former Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush<\/u><\/a> amid charges of bribery and corruption. In 2023, the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton, but he was eventually acquitted of all charges by the state senate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For his part, Cornyn, who has served in the Senate since 2002, has no intention of leaving the Senate. After serving in key GOP leadership positions, including chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, from 2009-2013, and Senate majority whip, from 2015-2019, he threw his hat in the ring to become the Senate majority leader in 2024<\/a>, though he ultimately lost to South Dakota Sen. John Thune.<\/p>\n

TULSI GABBARD, RFK JR. EXPECTED TO FACE OPPOSITION IN SENATE CONFIRMATION HEARINGS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cornyn, meanwhile, has said he will “absolutely” run again in 2026.<\/p>\n

In recent months, he has also been a vocal supporter of Trump\u2019s Cabinet picks and has slammed Democrats for delaying confirmations for key positions. In a speech on the Senate floor earlier this month, he said, “Our first and most urgent task is to confirm President Trump’s nominees for his Cabinet.”<\/p>\n

With both considered leading Republicans and both holding significant support, any potential primary race between the two in the Lone Star State promises to be a dramatic \u2014 perhaps messy \u2014 showdown.<\/p>\n

SENATE WILL \u2018KEEP GRINDING THROUGH\u2019 TO GET TRUMP TEAM CONFIRMED, JOHN THUNE SAYS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

One of the primary questions that remains is whether the president would support his longtime ally Paxton or if he would, in the interest of preserving party unity, support a GOP establishment that has previously been criticized as “weak” and “ineffective.”<\/p>\n

“The big question is whether Trump would support Paxton over Cornyn in a primary challenge,” Matt Mackowiak<\/a>, a veteran Republican strategist and communications consultant based in Texas and Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

“Cornyn\u2019s never lost a race. Cornyn has a lot of support around the state. He\u2019s traveled all corners of the state for a long time and is very well known and very well liked,” said Mackowiak. “We haven\u2019t had a Republican senator lose a primary since Richard Lugar in 2004.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“As much as people sometimes think it\u2019s doable, think it\u2019s easy, think it\u2019s inevitable, it really just doesn\u2019t happen. But I\u2019m not saying it can\u2019t happen. I\u2019m not saying that Paxton can\u2019t win. I think he certainly has a decent chance.”<\/p>\n

SPEAKER JOHNSON INVITES TRUMP TO ADDRESS CONGRESS AMID BUSY FIRST 100-DAY SPRINT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Mackowiak added that if Paxton runs, it “would be a massive race with national consequences.”<\/p>\n

“You\u2019d have national activists and money involved on both sides,” he said. “It could end up being one of the biggest primaries of the cycle and probably the most significant statewide primary in Texas since Dewhurst-Cruz [when former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz defeated Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst for the GOP Senate nomination in 2012 en route to winning his first U.S. Senate election] or it may not materialize at all. And I think it\u2019s going to be several months before we know.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking to Republican Party members in Denton County Monday night, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, listed several Republicans he plans to purge from the Texas GOP for being insufficiently conservative.\u00a0 Among those on Paxton\u2019s list was Texas\u2019 senior U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, one of the most powerful members … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31784\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}