Jeff Danziger lives in New York City and Vermont. He is a long time cartoonist for The Rutland Herald and is represented by Counterpoint Syndicate. He is a recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons, a novel and a memoir. Visit him at jeffdanziger.com.
President Donald Trump’s 11th hour endorsement against incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn seems to have paid off in Texas, as Trump’s champion Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton swamped Cornyn in the Senate primary, according to CNN and MS NOW projections. Cornyn conceded the election later that evening.
Trump routinely targets Republicans he finds too independent by fielding or supporting more Trumpy candidates in primaries. Recently Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, became the latest victim of Trump's effort to back primary challengers for his perceived enemies within the GOP.
But Paxton is nothing if not a flawed candidate, according to critics. He is an adulterer who attempted to overthrow the 2020 election and who was nearly impeached by his own Republican senate. Sixteen Texas attorneys signed a 31-page complaint against Paxton, demanding he be disbarred for legal offenses.
Still, it will be Paxton, not Cornyn, who will face off against Democrat James Talarico, a state lawmaker, this November.
Both Cornyn and Paxton were found to be trailing hypothetical head-to-heads against Talarico last month in a Texas Public Opinion Research poll of 1,865 voters. That poll showed Talarico with a three-percentage point lead over Cornyn, 44-to-41 percent. But he leads Attorney General Ken Paxton by a wider, five percentage point margin, 46-to-41 percent, according to the poll.
Talarico leads Paxton with Black voters by +56, Latino voters +27 and college-educated voters +14. Nine percent of surveyed respondents remain undecided. Independents break for Talarico against Paxton 53 percent to 28 percent.
Democrats winning a major statewide election in Texas has long been seen as unlikely, but according to a new breakdown from The Atlantic, Trump's recent "casual betrayal" of an endorsement has given the party its best chance at an upset in decades.
“Trump may have cemented a set of very difficult circumstances for his party,” reported the Atlantic. “If Paxton wins on Tuesday, Democrats will probably be better positioned to win statewide in Texas than they’ve been in the past 40 years."Critics complain that Trump’s endorsement means Republican financiers will have to invest more heavily to beat Talarico, which means less money helping vulnerable Republicans in other states, when Texas should have been an easy win.
Trump's vendetta against Republicans who defy him represents a significant shift in party dynamics.
Since his return to the White House, Trump has systematically targeted GOP lawmakers deemed insufficiently loyal, orchestrating primary challenges against sitting senators and representatives. Notable victims include Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who lost his primary after voting to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial, and Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who challenged Trump on government spending and the Epstein files. Trump has also threatened Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert for supporting Massie.
These purges extend beyond symbolic gestures—Trump has mobilized campaign resources and Super PAC funding to ensure defeats, effectively establishing a loyalty test within the party that prioritizes personal allegiance over policy positions or constituent service.
President Donald Trump’s 11th-hour endorsement in the Texas GOP primary went to far-right Attorney General Ken Paxton over establishment Republican Sen. John Cornyn, dealing a severe blow to the lawmaker’s chances, angering some prominent GOP lawmakers, and likely boosting the chances of underdog Democrat James Talarico winning the seat in the red Lone Star State.
“Ton of concern among GOP [senators] about Trump’s endorsement of Paxton,” CNN’s Manu Raju reported. “Fear it will cost them a lot more money to save a seat in a red state.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said that Trump’s Paxton endorsement “puts that seat in jeopardy” and asked, “how does that help strengthen the president’s hand when we lose a state like Texas?”
“Supremely disappointed,” is how she characterized her reaction.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) declared Paxton is “an ethically challenged individual,” reports Semafor congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett.
“John Cornyn is an outstanding senator and deserved, in my judgment, the president’s support,” she said. “Obviously, it’s the president’s call, but I’m disappointed that he did it.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a top Trump ally, said, “I think Paxton can win. I think it’d be three times more expensive.”
Sen. Ron Johnson said he was “speechless” and added, “I really have no comment.”
Described as “not happy looking,” Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), who has supported Sen. Cornyn, acknowledged it was President Trump’s decision to make.
Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reported that Thune was “stone-faced” after the endorsement, and appeared “pretty deep” in anger.
“Most GOP senators really want him to endorse Cornyn,” Everett had reported about 90 minutes before the Trump-Paxton endorsement dropped.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) had said, “I would like to see him support John Cornyn in Texas. I’ve made that clear.”
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) had said, “I am hopeful that he backs Sen. Cornyn. John has been a steadfast ally of the president and I hope the president sees that.”
Congressional reporter Jamie Dupree described U.S. Senator Roger Wicker’s (R-MS) response as “stone cold silent.”
Professor Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, called Trump’s endorsement of Paxton “Great News for Talarico,” “Bad News for GOP money reserves,” and declared, “If ever there’s a year when a D can win statewide in TX, it’s 2026.”
Talarico responded to the Trump endorsement: “As I said on primary night, it doesn’t matter who wins this runoff. We already know who we’re running against: the billionaire mega-donors and their corrupt political system.”
Reprinted with permission from Alternet
Texas Republicans are once again sounding alarm bells about the state’s U.S. Senate seat, saying that if Republicans nominate state Attorney General Ken Paxton in the May 26 primary runoff, it will create a drag on the entire Texas GOP ticket.
A polling memo commissioned by a super PAC backing Republican Sen. John Cornyn in the runoff said that nominating Paxton would be catastrophic, potentially costing Republicans the Senate seat, multiple House races, and possibly even control of the state House.
“A Paxton nomination creates measurable risk across every tier of the Texas ballot,” said the memo, which was obtained by Texas Tribune reporter Gabby Birenbaum. “The Senate race tightens significantly. Congressional pickup opportunities close. Republican-held seats that should be safe require active defense. And the Texas House majority—which took years to build—faces exposure it would not face with Cornyn at the top of the ticket.”
Among the poll’s findings is that the gerrymander Trump forced Republicans to undertake—which was supposed to net the GOP five U.S. House seats—could collapse if Paxton were the nominee.
The memo highlights four prospective GOP flips, saying, “With Paxton at the top of the ticket, all four opportunities effectively disappear. The drag is consistent across every key voter group—independents, suburban women, soft Republicans—and large enough to turn each district from a competitive opportunity into a likely Democratic hold.”
What’s more, the memo says that Paxton would jeopardize otherwise safe GOP House seats, including that of now-former Rep. Tony Gonzales and GOP Rep. Beth Van Duyne. The survey finds that suburban, independent, and Hispanic voters would likely turn away from the party in droves.
“The damage does not stop at lost opportunities. Redistricting produced several Republican-held congressional districts that should be safe holds under any normal electoral environment. With Cornyn at the top of the ticket, they are—comfortable margins, no defensive spending required, resources free for offensive races. Under a Paxton nomination, many of these seats become a problem,” the memo said, though it overstates Cornyn’s benefit to those seats, many of which are still competitive even if he is the nominee.
The Cornyn-supporting super PAC released the memo a little more than two weeks before the May 26 runoff in a desperate attempt to build support for Cornyn’s flailing candidacy.
The most recent public poll, commissioned by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs, found Paxton leading Cornyn, 48 percent to 45 percent.
However, the same survey found that electability arguments don’t seem to be working. When asked which Republican would be the strongest opponent to Democratic nominee James Talarico, GOP primary voters were split, with 43% saying Cornyn and 43% saying Paxton.
Cornyn, for his part, had been frantically trying to secure Trump’s endorsement, changing long-held positions and heaping embarrassing amounts of praise on Trump. And right after the initial primary, it seemed Trump was finally going to get off the sidelines and endorse Cornyn, according to reports at the time. But Trump has so far reneged on his pledge to make an endorsement.
It’s possible Cornyn’s supporters hope this memo scares Trump into backing Cornyn
In the process, though, they released a memo that shows Texas is competitive even if Cornyn is the nominee.
The poll showed Cornyn up only two points over a “generic Democrat” in the race, while Paxton trailed by four points. (Of course, Talarico is far from generic.) It also showed Democrats holding onto two of the gerrymandered U.S. House seats even with Cornyn atop the ticket.
Ultimately, the midterms will prove brutal for Trump and Republicans—whether or not Paxton is the Texas Senate nominee.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos
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