“We have a great candidate, I believe, in Texas,” Trump told reporters. “And I believe the Texas candidate, who is Ken Paxton, I think he’ll win. I think probably he’ll win very substantially and I think he’ll go on to defeat a very defective candidate.”
Talarico downplayed the endorsement’s impact, saying Cornyn and Paxton both represent “a broken politics that enriches wealthy donors while costs skyrocket for the rest of us.”
Many of Cornyn’s Senate Republican colleagues reacted to the endorsement Tuesday with frustration and anxiety about a Paxton nomination.
Because of Paxton’s personal and legal troubles, they said he could force Republicans to divert money from key battleground races to defend a Texas seat they normally would expect to hold comfortably, potentially endangering the GOP Senate majority.
Trump has been emboldened by a string of Republican primary wins for candidates he backed over incumbents who crossed him. He said Wednesday he had talked to Senate Republican leaders about his decision to bypass Cornyn.
“They’ll be all right with it,” Trump said. “They want to win. I know how to win. Some of them don’t know how to win. I know how to win. I think I’ve proven that haven’t I?”