Talarico holds slight lead over Paxton in Texas polling
President Donald Trump has accused Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and political strategist Karl Rove of “doing everything possible to make it hard” for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee in the state’s Senate race. In a Truth Social post, Trump lambasted the pair, claiming they were “sadly, and very stupidly” working against Paxton due to personal jealousy toward him and accusing them of “hurting Texas and, more importantly, hurting the United States of America!”
The intervention lands in a race that had been widely viewed as a likely Republican hold. Despite Texas being seen as a Republican safe seat by many in the party, polls show the Democratic nominee James Talarico holding a slight lead over Paxton, who has served as Texas’s attorney general since 2015. A loss for Paxton would be seen as a major blow for Trump and the GOP, and would be the first time a Republican had not won a Senate election in Texas since 1988.
Trump continued in the post: “If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career.” Cornyn is the incumbent senator; Rove is a longtime Republican strategist.
Separately, Katie Zacharia, the White House’s new press secretary, has stated that it is “unknown” how much she will engage with the press or hold briefings with reporters. Questions about her legal credentials continue to be asked following revelations that she failed to pass the California bar exam after graduating from law school.
In other foreign policy comments, Trump labeled a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries a “disgrace” while describing Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “more difficult to deal with than Putin.”