President Donald Trump said Monday he will not endorse any of the three Republicans competing to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate — a significant silence that leaves one of the most closely watched primaries in the country without a defining signal from the nation's most influential Republican.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday night, Trump said he simply had not made up his mind. "I just haven't made a decision on that race yet. It's got a ways to go, and I haven't," he told reporters. "I like all three of them, actually. Those are the toughest races. They've all supported me. They're all good. You're supposed to pick one, so we'll see what happens. But I support all three."
His comments landed on the eve of the first day of early voting in Texas. Early voting runs through February 27, with primary election day set for March 3. If no candidate wins a majority of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to a May 26 runoff.
The race pits four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn against two primary challengers: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Houston-area U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt. All three have aggressively courted Trump's endorsement, making loyalty to his agenda central to their campaigns.
Cornyn is backed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which has raised concern that a Paxton victory in the primary could give Democrats an opening to flip the seat in November — a prospect the NRSC has warned would make "holding the Senate majority more expensive." Turning Point Action has endorsed Paxton, while the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is behind Cornyn.
A University of Houston Hobby School poll conducted in late January found Paxton leading with 38 percent of likely Republican primary voters, followed by Cornyn at 31 percent and Hunt at 17 percent. Twelve percent remained undecided.
The primary has grown increasingly combative. Rep. Hunt filed a police report against the Cornyn campaign, accusing a senior advisor of "doxxing" his family by posting unredacted personal documents online. Cornyn, meanwhile, has warned publicly that a Paxton nomination could lead to a Republican defeat in the general election.
Trump had signaled as recently as February 1 that an endorsement was coming "soon," acknowledging that his "problem is that I'm friendly with all of them." As of Tuesday, no endorsement had materialized.
On the Democratic side, Rep. Jasmine Crockett faces state Rep. James Talarico in the primary. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the general election seat as likely Republican.