Should Trump endorse Cornyn? Some Texas Republicans say it would be a MAGA 'mistake'

President Donald Trump likes to say that no one understands the Make America Great Again movement like him, its founder and undisputed champion. But as he weighs which candidate to endorse in the U.S. Senate runoff in Texas, some of the state’s Republicans fear he may be out of step with what his base wants.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several said it would be a mistake for Trump to endorse four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, a favorite of the Washington establishment, over conservative crusader Ken Paxton, the state attorney general.

“Some of his hardest and most ardent supporters will see this as a slap in the face," said Tom Oliverson, a Houston-area lawmaker who leads the Republican caucus in the Texas House.

Steve Toth, a Republican state lawmaker from The Woodlands who recently defeated incumbent Rep. Dan Crenshaw, said "what the president doesn’t understand here in Texas is the amount of frustration that Texas voters have with John Cornyn.”

Since Trump remains widely popular in the state, “I don’t think it’s a mistake that’s going to hurt him,” Toth said. “But do I think it’s a mistake for him to possibly endorse John Cornyn? Yes, I do.”

Cornyn and Paxton are facing off in a May 26 runoff after neither won a majority in the March 3 primary to clinch the nomination outright. Trump said March 4 that he would endorse one of them, and subsequently hinted in an interview with Politico that he was leaning toward Cornyn.

But no endorsement has been announced, leaving both candidates jockeying for the upper hand in a race that could become increasingly ugly and expensive in the weeks to come.

Cornyn has his own supporters within the Texas Legislature.

“I’m hoping that the president will look at all the facts and support an honorable senator who has represented Texas very well, as opposed to a crook and a liar,” said Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth.

Cornyn tried to further align himself with Trump on Wednesday by reversing his position on the Senate filibuster. The senator said he would support changing the rules to pass the SAVE America Act, which the president has described as his top priority. The legislation would require voters to prove their citizenship when registering.

“I support whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary,” Cornyn wrote in an op-ed in the New York Post, to get the bill “through the Senate and on the president’s desk for his signature.”

Paxton had already played for Trump's favor on the issue, saying nearly a week ago that he would be willing to drop out of the race if the Senate passed the measure. Right now it's stalled because there aren't enough votes to overcome the filibuster, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune doesn't want to change the rules.

Cornyn’s campaign began airing its first television advertisement of the runoff campaign, a bruising spot that uses a Christian theme that notes Paxton’s wife accused him of infidelity. A narrator’s booming voice intones, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” over images of churches and the Bible. The campaign is spending $330,000 for the opening round and is expected to expand it.

Cornyn was elected in 2002, at the height of Texan George W. Bush’s popularity as president. He has more recently been dismissive of Trump and his agenda, saying in 2023 that Trump’s “time has passed." Likewise, he had called Trump’s proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall “naive” early on, and helped pass gun-control legislation after the Uvalde school shooting in 2022.

Rep. Matt Shaheen of Plano said Cornyn has the conservative credentials, notably as a reliable opponent of abortion rights, but has broader appeal than Paxton.

“John Cornyn is the only person who can beat James Talarico,” Shaheen said, referring to the Democratic nominee in the race. “And I believe the president understands that.”

Texas Rep. Wesley Virdell, a leading gun-rights advocate in the state House from Brady, said he's worried that Trump will back Cornyn.

“I have concern that he may be getting bad advice from certain officials,” said Virdell. “I hope he will take other conservative members’ opinions into consideration, because I think it’s going to look really bad for President Trump if he endorses him."

Paxton, despite the nod to Trump’s legislative priority, has shown no signs of dropping from the race. He plans to speak at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference, a gathering of the nation’s leading conservative officials and personalities, this year in Dallas.

Rep. Shelley Luther of rural Grayson County said her constituents would be disappointed if Trump backed Cornyn.

“They’d be like, ‘He’s out of touch with what Texans want,'" she said.

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa.