NBC News projects that Paxton, who received a late endorsement from Trump, will advance to the general election to face Democrat James Talarico.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has defeated Sen. John Cornyn for the Republican Senate nomination, NBC News projects, the latest challenger backed by Donald Trump to unseat an incumbent.
Paxton will face Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in a November race that could become key to the fight for the Senate majority.
Trump endorsed Paxton last week, giving him a last-minute boost in his bid to oust Cornyn, who has been in the Senate since 2003. Cornyn and Paxton faced off Tuesday in a head-to-head runoff after no candidate won more than 50% of the vote in the initial multicandidate March primary.
You’re not incorrect to feel that way, but for context, this is a republican primary. The only people voting for this are the ones without enough shame to have changed their party affiliation in the past 1-10 years, so there’s definitely a sampling bias in these specific results. We won’t know what the rest of the voters want until November.
This the same state that keeps re-electing Raphael Cruz.
In Texas we can vote in either party’s primary. The only restriction is that you can only vote in the runoff for the party for which you initially voted. It’s not uncommon for Democrats to vote in the Republican primary to choose a least worst candidate or the one they believe is more likely to lose in November. Theres currently a feeling that Talarico is more likely to beat Paxton than Cornyn. This carries over to other states, with the maga crowd (who’s more likely to participate in primaries/runoffs) putting trump-endorsed candidates on the ballot and that these candidates are more likely to lose in November.