‘Not one of us’: Ken Paxton blasts Sen. John Cornyn during DFW campaign stop
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton slammed U.S. Sen. John Cornyn during a Tuesday campaign stop in North Texas.
Paxton is hoping to unseat Cornyn, a Republican senator who has represented Texas in the U.S. Senate since 2003. Paxton’s primary opponents also include U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a Houston Republican.
Tuesday was the first day of early voting ahead of the March 3 election. Early voting runs through Feb. 27.
“He has adopted the Washington mentality, the Washington swamp, and he is not one of us,” Paxton said of Cornyn.
Several dozen people gathered at Matt’s Rancho Martinez in Allen on Tuesday for the event. One woman wore a red, white and blue sequined jacked reading with the text “Make Texas Great Again” sprawled on the back.
Large United States and Texas flags flaked the stage where Paxton addressed attendees that included state Rep. Mitch Little, a Lewisville Republican, state Rep. Shelley Luther, a Tom Bean Republican, and state Rep. Keresa Richardson, a McKinney Republican.
The Allen stop is the second in a series of Lone Star Liberty PAC events taking place across the state in the lead up to Election Day. Paxton’s earlier appearances have included GOP gatherings with fellow candidates and speaking engagements with Turning Point USA chapters at Texas colleges, according to The Associated Press.
Paxton, a former member of the Texas Legislature, outlined his motivations for his past Texas Attorney General bids: Taking on Barack Obama during his first term, going after big tech and big pharma during his second, and then challenging Joe Biden in his third.
Paxton said when it came to a possible fourth term this election cycle, he didn’t have a mission like in prior elections . Twelve years was long enough as attorney general, he said.
“I was trying to figure out whether I want to do something in the public sector or run for something else,” Paxton said. “The only thing was appealing to me was looking at a position where we had a weakness. That was pretty easy to find.”
He criticized Cornyn for serving more than two decades in the Senate and questioned the incumbent senator’s allegiance to President Donald Trump.
“The reality is John doesn’t have anything to run on because John hasn’t done anything except harm,” Paxton said.
Trump hasn’t endorsed a candidate in the Senate race, but Paxton said that isn’t a concern.
“I respect the president,” Paxton said, speaking to reporters after the event. “I love Donald Trump. Donald Trump will do what’s best for the country, and if he feels like it’s time to come to the race, he’ll come to the race.”
A recent poll from the Hobby School of Public Affairs at The University of Houston had Paxton leading Cornyn by 7 points with 38% of votes. Hunt was in third place with 17% of votes, according to the poll of likely primary voters.
The attorney general has been the subject of controversy in the years since being elected in 2014. He was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 on allegations of corruption and abusing his office to aid a political donor, but was acquitted in the Texas Senate. Paxton has also faced allegations of infidelity. He and his wife, State Sen. Angela Paxton, a McKinney Republican, are getting a divorce.
“He’s lied to his family,” Cornyn said at a campaign event in Austin, according to a Punchbowl News reporter. “He’s lied to Texas taxpayers. He’s lied to his senior staff... what makes you think we can trust him to represent us in the United States Senate?” Cornyn is scheduled to hold a campaign event in Fort Worth on Wednesday.
Speaking with reporters after the campaign stop, Paxton defended his record and criticized Cornyn’s when asked about a portion of the remarks and others reportedly made by Cornyn Tuesday.
The top vote getter in the March primary advances to the November election. If a single candidate doesn’t get more than 50% of votes in the first round of voting, the top two vote-getter advance to a May primary runoff.
Paxton predicted that he may avoid a runoff, and that Cornyn could finish in third place.
“If they’re lucky, there will be a runoff,” Paxton said.
