Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made it official last week, announcing he will challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in next March’s Republican primary. The fireworks already have begun, the Austin American-Statesman reported, with Cornyn calling his rival “a con man and a fraud.” Paxton, for his part, said he is running to “fight for President Trump’s agenda and take a sledgehammer to the D.C. establishment.” He accused Cornyn of being insufficiently loyal to Trump.
Paxton’s decision to run for the Senate leaves the attorney general’s seat open in 2026. Former U.S. Attorney John Bash, a lawyer for Elon Musk, has announced plans to run, The Dallas Morning News reported. He will almost certainly have company in the GOP primary. Longtime lobbyist and political consultant Bill Miller said the job’s high profi le makes it attractive to potential candidates.
“It’s the most attractive job below being senator or governor. You have this enormous machinery to put yourself in almost every issue, state or federal,” he said. “You can make news and be news almost at will.”
