Trump hits Cornyn hard and asks Texas to vote for Paxton: 'He will never let you down'

Donald Trump stepped up his endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the final stretch of the Republican Senate primary runoff, which is set to be decided this Tuesday. In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, the president asked Texas voters to choose Paxton and assured them that he "will never let them down."

The race pits Paxton against Sen. John Cornyn, who is seeking his fifth term in the Senate. Both advanced to runoffs after the March primary, the most expensive in state history, with ad spending exceeding $110 million, after neither surpassed 50% of the vote. On the Democratic side, the nominee is James Talarico.

In his message on Sunday, Trump praised Paxton's tenure as attorney general and described him as a "true MAGA warrior," while charging his rival - without naming him - for having been "very disloyal" to him as president and for not fighting hard enough for his voter ID agenda and restrictions on vote-by-mail voting.

The endorsement, however, was not well received throughout the Republican Party. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) sharply questioned Trump's decision after calling Paxton an "ethically challenged individual."

Trump's metamorphosis: From neutrality in March to full-throated endorsement

Trump's current tone contrasts markedly with the stance the president took just weeks earlier. After the March primaries, Trump had been deliberately equidistant between the two Republican hopefuls. Far from criticizing Cornyn, he put him on equal footing with Paxton.

"Both John and Ken ran great campaigns," he wrote then on Truth Social, in a message in which he avoided leaning toward either and promised to define his endorsement "soon." At the time, his stated concern was that a too-long primary would wear down the Republican Party heading into November and divert resources from other key races. He even anticipated that he would ask the unsupported candidate to drop out of the campaign immediately, in the name of party unity.

That March neutrality is behind him. In his Sunday message, Cornyn who had previously run "a great campaign," became the "very disloyal" opponent who "didn't fight hard enough" for his agenda. The shift became explicit last week, when Trump formally endorsed Paxton and snubbed the senator, whom he previously treated with caution.

The change in stance did not go unnoticed by the Senate Republican leadership, which, in March, was confident it could convince Trump to back Cornyn. Majority Leader John Thune noted that an early endorsement from the president would save money and weeks of internal campaigning, while No. 2 John Barrasso had openly encouraged him to support the senator. In the end, Trump came down on the other side.

The runoff will be settled this Tuesday, after a rough campaign between the attorney general and senator.