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President Trump has previously avoided weighing in on the ongoing primary between Representative Wesley Hunt, Senator John Cornyn, and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who are in a heated battle for the GOP nomination in the Texas 2026 Senate race.
It seems that status quo might be about to change, with Trump telling reporters on Sunday that he was giving serious thought to making an endorsement in the race.
The president hasn’t dropped any hints regarding who he’s considering endorsing, but many conservatives are worried that he may be preparing to endorse incumbent John Cornyn. Popular conservative op-ed author Alexander Muse reported on X, saying: “Senior Texas Republicans privately warned President Trump that endorsing John Cornyn would ignite a civil war inside the state GOP.”
This of course leaves open the question of why President Trump would decide to flip so dramatically and consider endorsing Senator Cornyn. According to some, it may be the result of the recent special election for Texas’s 9th Senate District.
In that race, a Democrat managed to flip what was considered a deep-red Texas State Senate seat—where President Trump had endorsed Republican Leigh Wambsganss—and this may have scared him to the point of feeling he needs to endorse a “safer” candidate in the race for Texas’s national Senate seat.
Former Chairman of the Texas Republican Party Matt Rinaldi warned against making any major decisions as a result of that race, saying: “That’s concerning—the Texas Senate race is not SD-9.”
He went on to say that he thinks endorsing Cornyn for any reason would be a mistake on President Trump’s part because, “Not only do I think it would hurt Trump’s standing among Texas Republicans, I think people would be disappointed, because Texas Republicans overwhelmingly support Paxton.”
Rinaldi also pointed out that there really isn’t a need for Trump to endorse Cornyn in that race if his only concern is making sure the GOP wins the seat—because according to the most recent polling, any Republican, including Paxton, would be able to defeat either of the Democrat candidates.