DALLAS — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will likely challenge John Cornyn for his long-held Senate seat, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
During the interview with the Times, Paxton floated the kind of legislation he’d hope to pursue as a Senator, J. David Goodman, the Times’ Texas bureau chief reported. Paxton hasn’t officially announced his intent to run for Senate, though.
“I just think there’s a lot of things that you could do at the federal level,” Paxton told the New York Times. “Trump can use the help and have a senator that actually is supportive and not critical.”
During the interview, Paxton started to answer a question about when he decided to run against Cornyn, before a staffer stepped in and reminded him he had not yet officially decided to run, according to the report.
Paxton has emerged as a frequent critic of Cornyn, who first joined the Texas delegation when he was elected to the Senate in 2002. Both Cornyn and Paxton have sparred on social media in recent weeks. In a February social media post, Paxton described Cornyn as “anti-Trump and anti-gun.” He added that Cornyn will be “focused on his highly competitive primary campaign in 2026.”
Paxton also recently took aim at Cornyn during a recent interview with Tucker Carlson.
Cornyn, 73, officially announced he will seek re-election in March, WFAA previously reported. In a video posted to social media, Cornyn cast himself as a “battled-tested partner” to President Donald Trump. He highlighted his work as Republican Whip during Trump’s first term, “delivering the votes for his biggest wins,” Cornyn said in the video.
However, Cornyn has faced criticism from the right flank of his party for his work on a bipartisan gun safety bill and his support for Ukraine.
“Are you delusional?” Paxton wrote in response to Cornyn’s re-election announcement. “You’ve constantly turned your back on Texans and President Trump, including trying to stop his campaign in 2024 and saying his ‘time has passed him by…’ Texans won’t believe your lies or forget how you’ve consistently worked to undermine the President.”
Cornyn endorsed Trump in January 2024.
The New York Times report cites several polls that appear to show primary voters favoring Paxton over Cornyn. One poll conducted by the University of Houston in February found that more Republicans would “definitely consider” voting for Paxton over Cornyn, the New York Times reported. The poll also showed that voters viewed Paxton more favorably than Cornyn.
Cornyn was previously in the running to become Senate leader after the retirement of Senator Mitch McConnell, but lost out to Senator John Thune of South Dakota and is no longer in Republican leadership.
Paxton’s New York Times interview came shortly before news broke that the Justice Department decided not to prosecute him, ending their corruption investigation that stemmed from allegations that Paxton abused his position to help a political donor.