President Donald Trump is signaling he will soon endorse someone in the Texas primary. Key Republican players are scrambling to make the case for incumbent John Cornyn — and hoping Trump acts fast.
“I hope it’s going to be soon,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday, just hours after making his latest plea on Cornyn’s behalf to the president.
At stake is $100 million or more in Republican donor money that many in D.C. party circles believe could be burned in the 12-week runoff showdown with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who finished closely behind Cornyn in Tuesday’s GOP primary.
Beyond the money that stands to be incinerated, party operatives fear the scorched-earth campaign will give a further leg up to Democratic candidate James Talarico, the state lawmaker who won his party’s primary outright Tuesday.
In a lengthy Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump spelled out that he was mindful of a costly internecine fight.
“I will be making my Endorsement soon,” he wrote, as he called on the candidate he doesn’t endorse to “DROP OUT OF THE RACE,” stressing that Republicans must “TOTALLY FOCUS” on beating the “Radical Left Opponent.”
Cornyn’s Senate colleagues delivered a succession of public and private entreaties to the president throughout the day Wednesday.
Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said in an exclusive interview for POLITICO’s “The Conversation” that Cornyn was “without a doubt the candidate to win in November.” The episode is set for publication Friday.
“There’s nothing more powerful than President Trump’s endorsement,” Britt added, speaking before she traveled to the White House for a roundtable event with Trump.
Multiple Republicans delivered a similar message directly to Trump, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private conversations — sharing their concerns that a Senate seat that has been in GOP hands since 1961 could be at risk of flipping in November if the scandal-dogged Paxton is the top of the ticket.
Senate Republicans were told during their closed-door lunch Wednesday that Trump will soon endorse in the race, two attendees said, but not whom the president will back.
But there was a palpable sense of hope among some of Cornyn’s allies Wednesday, who believe that things are aligning in the incumbent’s favor as he appears on track to win a plurality in Tuesday’s voting.
As of Wednesday evening Cornyn led Paxton by about 25,000 votes with more than 95 percent of ballots counted, according to the Associated Press. That represented an overperformance, some Cornyn allies argued, given that several pre-election polls had him soundly trailing Paxton.
A Cornyn campaign aide said there is “new momentum” and “new support coming” after Tuesday’s results.
“The case got stronger because of last night — that’s undeniable,” the aide said about Trump endorsing Cornyn. “There certainly are lots of conversations happening, lots of people who are seeing the bigger picture.”
Arriving in the Senate Wednesday evening, Cornyn declined to answer questions about the possibility of an endorsement — or anything else — as his colleagues warmly welcomed him back to Washington.
“Big John,” said No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Barrasso of Wyoming, greeting Cornyn as he rushed into the Capitol after a flight from Texas.
Several former Trump campaign aides are now associated with Cornyn’s campaign and are thought to be lobbying on his behalf. But Trump has long been personally fond of Paxton, a MAGA firebrand who eagerly joined his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential contest that elected Joe Biden.
A Republican close to the Paxton campaign, granted anonymity to speak candidly before Trump sent his Truth Social message, said Trump “knows that the base despises Cornyn” and would not risk alienating them by endorsing the sitting senator.
“He knows Cornyn is a squish and RINO,” he said. “But he’s got to make a pragmatic decision. It just kind of depends on what folks are telling him.”
Hopes for a quick endorsement for Cornyn could be on hold as the final votes are counted and his lead over Paxton is confirmed.
“Any president would prefer to be positioned with the winning campaign,” said one GOP donor, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the endorsement dynamics.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on when the president will endorse and which candidate.
Talarico clinching the nomination while two well-financed Republicans beat each other up is exactly the scenario Washington Republicans were hoping to avoid ahead of Tuesday’s election. Internal polling released earlier this month by the Senate GOP’s campaign arm showed Paxton would lose the general election to Talarico by 3 points while Cornyn could beat him by 3 points.
The Republican close to the Paxton campaign said the attorney general is well positioned to win a runoff given that the primary electorate tends to be more conservative — and that Talarico is more beatable than Washington Republicans believe, given his past comments on transgender rights and his liberal view of the Bible. The person said Paxton’s data modeling showed a Cornyn plurality “was a possibility.”
“I guess it’s fair to say he was a little bit stronger than expected, but again it wasn’t too far up from our data,” the person said.
Still, the strong showing gave Cornyn’s colleagues a prime opportunity to argue that it was time to bring the rivalry to an end.
“John Cornyn is the best bet to win the November election,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally known to have the president’s ear.
Barrasso added that he, too, would encourage Trump to back his Texas colleague, adding that it’s “critically important for John Cornyn to be the nominee.”
“We need to hold that seat which means we need to nominate someone who is going to win in November,” Barrasso added. “The person that will win in November is John Cornyn.”
Dasha Burns and Adam Wren contributed to this report.
