Texas GOP Senate Candidates Saturate TV Airwaves, Shy Away from Public in Runoff’s Final Stretch

PLANO, Texas – As the race for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Texas reaches its final stretch, candidates Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton have largely stepped away from the spotlight on the eve of the runoff election. Instead of engaging in public campaign events, both candidates are relying heavily on their media presence to sway voters.

This absence from public appearances on Monday marks the culmination of a fiercely contested campaign, which has seen advertising spending soar beyond $109 million, with a significant portion coming from Cornyn’s camp. Unlike his competitor, Cornyn is dedicating the day to a non-campaign event in San Antonio, honoring high school graduates bound for the nation’s service academies. His last official campaign event took place in Corpus Christi on Friday.

Meanwhile, Paxton concluded his public appearances last Thursday with events in the Austin area and San Antonio. His campaign strategy leans heavily on the endorsement he received from President Donald Trump on May 19, allowing his campaign team and a supportive super PAC to amplify this message.

Trump’s endorsement, coupled with his critique of Cornyn, who has had a strained relationship with the president, was strategically timed to coincide with the early voting period, which wrapped up on Friday. As Texans prepare to cast their votes on Tuesday, the impact of these endorsements and last-minute campaign efforts remains to be seen.

Trump’s announcement and accompanying dismissal of Cornyn, who has had an awkward public relationship with the president, came on the second day of early voting, which ended Friday.

Though the candidates were quiet over the weekend, Trump reaffirmed his support for Paxton on Sunday, and disparaged Cornyn as insufficiently loyal to him.

Paxton, Trump posted on social media, “was also very loyal to your favorite President, ME,” while calling Cornyn “VERY disloyal to me.” It was Trump’s strongest rebuke of Cornyn, who had dismissed his 2024 comeback chances, and echoed the president’s reproach of Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy before he lost in the May 15 GOP Senate primary.

Following Trump’s call for retribution, Republican voters in Indiana and Kentucky have also chosen GOP primary challengers over incumbent GOP officeholders who have crossed the president or opposed his agenda.

For a contest that is expected to draw a fraction of Texas’ 18.7 million voters, the two candidates’ campaigns and supporting groups were continuing to bombard all Texans with advertising, though more by Cornyn’s backers than Paxton’s.

“It’s just a slug fest, with the campaigns and third-party groups slugging it out,” said Wayne Hamilton, a former executive director of the Texas Republican Party.

The combination of Cornyn’s campaign and supporting super PACs have far outspent pro-Paxton groups over the past year, by almost nine-to-one. But the gap has shrunk as the runoff has approached. In the final week of the campaign, the combination of pro-Cornyn ad spending was less than twice Paxton’s group.

Cornyn’s network continued to air spots attacking Paxton over ethical and personal questions that have shadowed him with little effect throughout the campaign. Cornyn’s campaign also had reprised an ad noting his tendency to vote in the Senate for Trump’s priorities.

Paxton’s campaign and groups supporting him transitioned midweek to all ads noting Trump’s endorsement, though Paxton’s primary super PAC, Lone Star Liberty Fund, began airing one over the weekend aimed at raising questions about state Rep. James Talarico, the Texas Democratic Senate nominee.