Paxton announced his campaign Tuesday, challenging a seat long held by John Cornyn.
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday that he is officially running for U.S. Senate.
Paxton made the announcement during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”
“It’s definitely time for a change in Texas,” Paxton said. “We have another great U.S. senator, Ted Cruz, and it’s time we have another great senator that will actually stand up and fight for Republican values, fight for the values of the people of Texas, and also support Donald Trump in the areas that he is focused on…”
Paxton also plugged his campaign website during the brief interview. On that website, Paxton leans into his 2023 impeachment, saying: “They tried to take him down. Now, he’s taking a sledgehammer to the D.C. Establishment.”
Since he is running for federal office, Paxton will be able to retain his position as Attorney General.
Paxton’s run will challenge long-time Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who has served four consecutive terms since he was elected in 2002.
“I think there’s a decent chance this US Senate primary will be the ugliest in 50 years in Texas, going back to the 60s,” Republican Strategist Matt Mackowiak told WFAA.
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.”
Paxton released a statement following his campaign announcement, directly challenging Cornyn.
“John Cornyn has been in Washington for over two decades, and he has turned his back on President Trump and the America First agenda time after time. He’s said President Trump’s ‘time has passed him by’ and called President Trump’s border wall ‘naive.’ Texans deserve far better than a Senator who thinks it’s ‘naive’ to build a border wall to protect our citizens,” Paxton stated. “It’s crystal clear that it’s time for a change. I’m a battle-tested Attorney General and conservative warrior who’s secured major victories against the establishment, the corrupt Biden Administration, and woke corporations. Now, I’m ready to take that same toughness to the U.S. Senate.”
A Cornyn campaign spokesperson issued a statement in response to Paxton’s campaign announcement calling him a fraud.
“He talks tough on crime and then lets crooked progressive Lina Hildago off the hook,” the spokesperson said. “He says his impeachment trial was a sham but he didn’t contest the facts in legal filings which will cost the state millions. He says he’s anti-woke but he funnels millions of taxpayer dollars to lawyers who celebrate DEI. And Ken claims to be a man of faith but uses fake Uber accounts to meet his girlfriend and deceive his family.”
“This will be a spirited campaign and we assure Texans they will have a real choice when this race is over,” the spokesperson concluded.
“I think by the time this, this race is over, we’re going to be tired of hearing from both these candidates because they’re going to spend an enormous amount of money,” MackowiaK told WFAA.
Paxton previously teased his run in an interview with the New York Times, where he floated the kind of legislation he’d hope to pursue as a Senator, J. David Goodman, the Times’ Texas bureau chief reported. 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.
“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.”
Ken Paxton was elected as the 51st Attorney General of Texas in 2014 and has served three consecutive terms since he was sworn in.
Mark Jones, a Professor of Political Science at Rice University, says the elephant in the room with this campaign is — what does President Donald Trump do?
“If Donald Trump remains popular and supports and endorses Ken Paxton, then it’s tough to imagine a way John Cornyn could be victorious,” Jones said. “However, if Trump stays on the sidelines then Cornyn would have a fighting chance.
Jones goes on to say, “If Donald Trump stays on the sidelines and becomes unpopular with Republican primary voters, due perhaps to the US going into a recession, then Cornyn has a better chance of defeating Paxton because Paxton is far more tied to Trump than Cornyn is.”
Texas voters will decide on their next U.S. senator in a general election on Nov. 3, 2026.
“These people really despise each other, I think that’s going to be clear to all the voters fairly soon as well,” MackowiaK told WFAA.