Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has won the Republican runoff for US Senate, defeating longtime Sen. John Cornyn.
This was one of America’s most-watched contests, with US President Donald Trump endorsing Paxton in a bitter Senate primary runoff.
Cornyn, a four-term senator and former Republican whip, began the year as the establishment favourite.
But Trump’s late endorsement of Paxton transformed the race, giving the Texas attorney general a major boost just days before the runoff.
Paxton has survived years of legal, ethical and personal scandal, including a 2023 impeachment by the Republican-led Texas House.
The 63-year-old was acquitted by the Texas Senate after his impeachment trial and has long cast the allegations against him as politically motivated.
Cornyn, by contrast, is a straight-laced institutional conservative who has represented Texas in the Senate since 2002 and built deep ties with the state’s donor class and Republican leadership in Washington.
Trump praised Paxton in a weekend Truth Social post as a loyal fighter and “great attorney general,” saying he had stood with “your favorite President, ME” — and complained that Cornyn hadn’t fought hard enough for the president’s priorities.
