Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened up a mammoth lead in the Senate Republican runoff, according to a poll taken after President Trump endorsed Mr. Paxton in the race.
Mr. Paxton is routing his opponent, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, 57% to 35%, according to the survey of 700 likely voters conducted by SoCal Strategies. The poll was taken Wednesday-Thursday.
Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Paxton on Tuesday in a move some analysts viewed as a political death blow to Mr. Cornyn, who is running for a fifth term and was already behind in several internal GOP surveys.
Early voting began Monday, and the runoff election takes place on Tuesday.
After failing to win the president’s coveted nod, Mr. Cornyn has ramped up his scorched-earth campaign against Mr. Paxton with a new ad that trashes his competitor over allegations of extramarital affairs, claims of profiting from his position in state government and a string of scandals that, the Cornyn camp warned, will make him an easy target for defeat in November.
The ad used an artificial intelligence version of Mr. Paxton sitting in a hot tub with a woman, then counting a large stack of cash at his desk and later burning a photo of Mr. Trump.
“We fought for Texas. We worked for Texas. And we’re not going to quit telling the truth about someone who could put it all at risk,” Mr. Cornyn says in the ad.
Mr. Paxton has shredded Mr. Cornyn with his own string of negative ads. But now that he won Mr. Trump’s endorsement and appears closer to victory, he’s backed off and pledged to end his campaign “on a positive note” and pivot to attacking the Democrat on November’s ballot, Texas state Rep. James Talarico.
Mr. Paxton has campaigned as a MAGA warrior and a Trump loyalist and has attacked Mr. Cornyn for his past opposition to both the president and his agenda.
Mr. Cornyn is running as a “Texas workhorse” who has served the state reliably and scandal-free for more than two decades and can defeat Mr. Talarico, a 37-year-old state lawmaker with a massive social media following who is tied with both lawmakers in hypothetical matchups.
Mr. Cornyn said he’s voted in favor of the Trump agenda 99.3% of the time.
