Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s challenge to incumbent Sen. John Cornyn went unresolved in the heated Republican primary race on March 3, as neither candidate proved able to secure 50% of the total vote.
Though Cornyn confidently warned Paxton that “Judgment day is coming,” Paxton ultimately proved victorious in Tuesday’s runoff election, handily beating the four-term senator by double digits.
AP News and NBC News called the race for Paxton around 9 p.m. ET, at which time 49.1% of the vote was in and Paxton was leading Cornyn 62.5% to 37.5%.
‘Our Country needs Fighters.’
Cornyn’s campaign blew over $24 million on advertising, including the attack ads that unsuccessfully tried to turn Republican voters off Paxton, reported the Texas Tribune.
Tens of millions of dollars more were blown by various pro-Cornyn groups, including the super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority, which squandered $32.9 million on total advertising. The group even dropped $9.5 million in runoff-only ad-spending to help the senator.
The Lone Star State’s AG, whose campaign spent only $4.8 million on advertising, stated in a runoff Election Day interview that “John Cornyn has never done anything significantly good for the state of Texas in 42 years.”
In his final argument against maintaining the status quo, Paxton faulted his opponent for “siding with Joe Biden on restricting Second Amendment rights, siding with Joe Biden on bringing Afghan refugees here without vetting them, going against Donald Trump on the border, going against Donald Trump’s re-election, going against Donald Trump’s first election, fighting for amnesty, open borders — that’s John Cornyn.”
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Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images
Toward the end of the race, Cornyn’s team framed the senator — who received donations from elements of the GOP old guard including former President George W. Bush and Rupert Murdoch — as a steady and proven conservative and Paxton as “morally bankrupt” and a “mortal threat to the America First agenda.”
President Donald Trump evidently did not share Cornyn’s vision for the future or his concerns about Paxton.
The president endorsed Paxton last week, touting him as “a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate.”
While signaling goodwill to Cornyn by referring to him as a “good man,” Trump emphasized that Paxton is a fighter and that “Our Country needs Fighters, and also Loyalty to the Cause of Greatness.”
Trump wasted no time celebrating Paxton’s win on Tuesday, posting to social media an image of himself and the victor along with a reminder of his endorsement.
Paxton will now face Democrat state Rep. James Talarico — a part-time Presbyterian seminarian who has attempted to use Scripture to justify abortion, protested the public display of the Ten Commandments, concern-mongers about traditional Christian views, voted against sparing kids from sex-rejection mutilations, and claimed there are six sexes.
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