Ken Paxton’s Trump-Aligned Messaging in Victory Over John Cornyn Points Way to GOP Midterm Victories

The stunning scale of the victory by Texas’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, over a veteran Senate leader, John Cornyn, is a good time to look at what is happening in the GOP.A Republican victory in the 2026 off-year election may still be in some doubt, but the steady march of President Trump and his MAGA movement cannot be denied.Three recent primary elections demonstrate how Mr. Trump’s impact is reshaping the GOP.There have only been a small number of presidents with the same influence on their own party as Mr. Trump.Certainly, President Jefferson’s 16-year campaign to drive the Federalists out of politics from 1796 to 1812 remains the preeminent case study. Mr. Jefferson used all the tools at his disposal to reshape the political landscape and reorganize the government on his terms.Presidents Jackson, Lincoln, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt were the other three leaders who successfully redefined their political systems and uplifted their allies and those who deeply agreed with their positions and ideologies.Mr. Trump earned his position as one of the five most effective party definers because he had the courage to stand and fight for the principles and values in which he believed.Mr. Trump has not yet built the same passionate loyalty among moderate and liberal Americans as he has among Republicans. The election this fall will be a great test of admiration for his authenticity and courage. He has faced assassination attempts, impeachment efforts, four major legal efforts to put him in jail, and all-out smear campaigns from never-Trumpers and the liberal press. Yet, he still attracts support within his party — even if he has not yet achieved everything he set out to do.There have been three recent tests of Mr. Trump’s strength inside the GOP. All three have been extraordinarily pro-Trump in their outcomes.First, there was a primary in Louisiana for the United States Senate. The incumbent, Bill Cassidy, would normally have been expected to win easily. However, Dr. Cassidy had voted to impeach Mr. Trump. The president never forgave him.As a sign of Mr. Trump’s political strength, Dr. Cassidy came in third place with 24.8 percent of the vote. The state treasurer and former congressman, John Fleming, was pro-Trump but not endorsed by the president. He came in second with 28.7 percent. The president’s choice, Congresswoman Julia Letlow, got 44.8 percent. Since none of them won a majority, there will be a runoff. It’s likely Ms. Letlow is going to win.To make even clearer the power of Mr. Trump’s endorsement, consider that Dr. Cassidy spent $7.6 million to come in third. Ms. Letlow spent $1.6 million to come in first.Louisiana isn’t an isolated case. On May 19, Mr. Trump won a big victory against one of his most consistent Republican critics, Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Mr. Massie had won by 99.6 percent against an independent in the 2024 election. This year, faced with an open, direct assault by Mr. Trump and his allies, Mr. Massie lost with 45.2 percent to Ed Gallrein’s 54.8 percent in the GOP primary.Finally, in what many considered the biggest test case of the year. A four-term incumbent, Mr. Cornyn became the first Texas senator to be defeated for re-election in a primary since Senator Ralph Yarborough, who was defeated in the 1970 Democratic primary by the more conservative Lloyd Bentsen.Mr. Paxton, running as a hard-core populist reformer, went right after Mr. Cornyn. The incumbent had been in the Senate for 24 years, and people were ready for change. Mr. Paxton had some weaknesses and was the underdog in resources. The Paxton campaign spent $1.9 million while the Cornyn campaign spent $6.8 million and Super PACs for Mr. Cornyn spent an estimated $90 million.Despite the spending disadvantage and the opposition of virtually the entire establishment Texas GOP, Mr. Trump’s endorsement carried Mr. Paxton to a 63.9 percent to 36.1 percent victory.Mr. Paxton, in his acceptance speech after winning the run-off, showed why he was popular and what the heart of MAGA is when he said: “I’m not just running against the Democrats — I’m running to deliver to you, just as I have as attorney general.”He added that “I’m running to lower your cost of living, because you deserve to be able to buy a home, afford groceries, and have a high quality of healthcare without being forced to stay up at night worried about” how to pay for it.If Mr. Trump can get the Paxton-Trump-MAGA-message repeated by every GOP candidate this fall, the Republicans are going to do just fine.In the interim, Mr. Trump is proving that he has an historically remarkable level of influence on his own party.

Ken Paxton’s Trump-Aligned Messaging in Victory Over John Cornyn Points Way to GOP Midterm Victories

Ken Paxton’s Trump-Aligned Messaging in Victory Over John Cornyn Points Way to GOP Midterm Victories

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