Longtime GOP Senator Lives To Fight Another Day, But Foe Will Have One More Shot To Oust Him

The brutal Texas Republican Senate primary will march into a May runoff as all three major candidates failed to win a majority of the vote Tuesday, multiple outlets project.

Longtime Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton advanced to a May 26 showdown as Cornyn claimed 42.8% of the vote Tuesday night while Paxton received 40.6%, with 62% of the vote in at 11:00 p.m. EST, according to CNN. Meanwhile, Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt, who only spent five months campaigning for the seat, came in a distant third with only 12.9% of the vote, finding himself far outside of the runoff. (RELATED: Sen. John Cornyn Might Get Knocked Out In First Round Of Fight For Political Life, New Polling Shows)

The results come after Cornyn’s war chest committed to a $10 million ad blitz from early voting to election day. The 24-year incumbent has doled out tens of millions of dollars on his reelection bid with over $50 million spent on advertising alone. 

The primary race has become the most expensive in history with more than $125 million spent on advertising, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact. Cornyn and his allies had far outpaced Paxton’s spending by pouring roughly $69 million on ads compared to the Attorney General’s $4 million, as of Feb. 27.

Paxton is still in a strong position to win the runoff despite his history of multiple scandals. Just three months after launching his campaign, his wife filed for divorce on “biblical grounds,” alleging an extramarital affair. He has faced multiple fraud allegations, ethics complaints and even an impeachment effort.

President Donald Trump did not endorse a candidate prior to the March primary calling all three of the major Republican contenders his “friends” while visiting Corpus Christi, Texas days before the primary election. The president also called Cornyn “a great senator” and Paxton a “great Attorney General.”

The prolonged Republican dogfight will give the winner of the Democratic primary between State Rep. James Talarico and Rep. Jasmine Crockett the chance to campaign for the general election for nearly the next three months, while Cornyn and Paxton still remained locked in a hotly-contested race for the nomination.

Recent internal polling from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which supports Cornyn, showed Paxton would be vulnerable to a general election challenge from Talarico. The group’s poll had Cornyn ahead of the Democrat by three points and Paxton behind by three points in a hypothetical November matchup. On the other hand, Cornyn outpaced Crockett by seven points and Paxton trailed by one.

Cornyn was asked on Fox News if Democrats have a chance at flipping the seat, to which he said, “absolutely.”

“There’s a chance of that and that’s the only reason why Talarico and Jasmine Crockett are running,” Cornyn said. “Jasmine Crockett said ‘if I’m the nominee Democrats can’t win’ and yet she decided to run and I think she’s doing that on the hope that Ken Paxton is the nominee with all the scandals and baggage.”

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