Texas Senate seat fight heads to runoff after Republicans fail to secure required votes

A bitter primary contest between the four-term Republican US senator John Cornyn and the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, ended in a runoff on Tuesday.

In Texas, a primary runoff is declared if neither candidate are able to capture 50% of the vote. Paxton and Cornyn will now face that election on 26 May.

Speaking to reporters in Austin, Cornyn said he had “worked for decades to build the Republican party, both here in Texas and nationally” and refused to allow a “flawed, self centered and shameless candidate” like the scandal-scarred Paxton to “risk everything we’ve worked so hard to build over these many years”.

“Judgment day is coming for Ken Paxton,” Cornyn said.