Cruz refuses to take sides between Cornyn, Paxton in high-stakes GOP Senate clash

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is staying neutral in the combustible GOP Senate nomination showdown in Texas between longtime Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

“I like John. I like Ken. They’re both friends of mine. I have supported both of them in the past. I’ve worked closely with both of them. I’ve endorsed both of them. I’ve campaigned with both of them, and so I’m staying out,” the conservative firebrand three-term senator said in a Fox News Digital interview on Wednesday.

The winner of the May 26 Republican runoff election will face off with Democratic nominee state Rep. James Talarico in this autumn’s general election in a race that’s among a handful which may decide if the GOP keeps its Senate majority in the midterms. The GOP currently controls the chamber, 53–47.

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Cornyn edged Paxton by a point in the March 3 primary, as they were the top two contenders among a crowded field of Republican candidates. But since neither of the heated rivals cracked the 50% threshold to win the nomination, the race headed into overtime.

While some of Cruz’s top outsider political advisers are supporting Paxton, the senator is declining to take sides.

“I trust the voters of Texas to make this decision,” the senator said.

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Talarico, who is considered a Democratic Party rising star, topped progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a vocal Trump critic, in their party’s primary. Talarico is trying to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Senate election in right-leaning Texas.

The Cornyn campaign and aligned super PACs have spent big bucks to run ads attacking Paxton, arguing that Democrats will flip the seat in the general election if Paxton’s the GOP’s nominee.

Cornyn, his allies, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the campaign arm of the Senate GOP, repeatedly pointed to the slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered Paxton over the past decade, as well as his ongoing messy divorce.

Paxton, a longtime supporter and ally of President Donald Trump and a MAGA firebrand who grabbed significant national attention by filing lawsuits against the Obama and Biden administrations, has pushed back by repeatedly questioning Cornyn’s conservative credentials and past support for Trump.

The president, whose sway in Republican nomination battles remains immense, stayed neutral during the primary campaign.

Hours after Cornyn and Paxton advanced to the runoff, Trump took to social media to announce, “I will be making my Endorsement soon.”

Trump added that Trump added that he would “be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!”

All signs at the time pointed to Trump backing Cornyn.

But more than three weeks since his social media post, Trump still remains neutral. And that has the MAGA faithful, many of whom are backing Paxton, hopeful that the president will stay out of the race, which would be a major victory for the Texas attorney general.

Paxton traveled to the president’s Mar-a-Lago residence last weekend for a Palm Beach County GOP dinner, where he briefly met with President Trump, two sources with knowledge of the encounter confirmed to Fox News Digital. One of the sources called it a ‘check in’ between Trump and Paxton. The news was first reported by Politico.

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There’s been a dearth of public opinion polling in the runoff, but the two surveys that have been released suggest Paxton holds a single-digit lead.

The race between Cornyn and Paxton is viewed by many Republicans as a battle between MAGA world and the grassroots versus the party establishment for the soul of the GOP.