The Texas GOP Senate runoff is officially a go. Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline to withdraw from the May 26 ballot passed without either Sen. John Cornyn or Attorney General Ken Paxton making a move - locking in a costly, contentious two-man race that President Donald Trump had publicly vowed to prevent.
The deadline for Republican candidates to remove their name from the primary runoff ballot quietly passed at 5 p.m. Tuesday without any movement from Cornyn or Paxton, sending Texas' GOP Senate primary barreling toward another period of expensive intraparty warfare.
The day after the March 3 primary - when Cornyn overperformed most polls to finish first ahead of Paxton - Trump pledged to endorse one of the candidates "soon" and warned that whoever he didn't pick should drop out. Nearly two weeks have passed without that endorsement.
The decision hasn't been on the president's mind for days, White House officials told CNN Tuesday afternoon, noting that he was preoccupied by the war with Iran. White House officials said Trump may still choose to endorse before Election Day.
The race has increasingly been tangled up in a Washington policy fight. Paxton offered to consider dropping out if Senate Republicans scrapped the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act - a GOP-backed bill that would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID at the polls. Cornyn, who had long defended the 60-vote threshold, reversed course and wrote an op-ed saying he now supports eliminating the filibuster to pass the measure. He voted with 50 other Senate Republicans Tuesday to open debate on the bill.
Even so, Paxton blamed Cornyn for the bill's uncertain prospects. "If the Save America Act fails, it will be because John Cornyn refused to truly fight to get it done," Paxton said in a statement. "He's campaigned on being Mr. Effective in the Swamp, and it's time for him to put his money where his mouth is."
Cornyn's campaign launched a TV ad highlighting the bribery and corruption allegations that led to Paxton's 2023 impeachment - though the state Senate ultimately acquitted him. The ad also notes that Paxton's wife is divorcing him on what she describes as "biblical grounds."
A super PAC backing Paxton ran ads in the West Palm Beach media market - targeting Trump directly - spotlighting Cornyn's past criticism of the former president, including when Cornyn suggested Trump was not the most electable presidential candidate in 2024.
Political analysts warn the prolonged runoff could leave the eventual Republican nominee weakened heading into November's general election against Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state representative from Austin.
