Trump Names His Scapegoats Before Texas Votes; Blames 'Weak' Cornyn and Rove if Ken Paxton Loses Senate Bid

Donald Trump has said that if Ken Paxton loses the Texas Senate race, the blame will lie with Senator John Cornyn and the Republican strategist Karl Rove.

In a Truth Social post on Thursday, 15 October 2026, the president accused both men of 'doing everything possible to make it hard' for Paxton, the Republican nominee.

Recent polls have generally shown Democrat James Talarico narrowly ahead less than three weeks before polling day. Cornyn, who lost the Republican primary runoff to Paxton in May, has not endorsed him.

'Weak and Ineffective Political Hacks'

'If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove,' Trump wrote. He said the two men 'should be ashamed of themselves' for not backing the attorney general.

Trump urged Republicans who voted for Cornyn in the primary to unite and 'immediately switch' to Paxton. He also noted that Cornyn had lost the primary after Trump endorsed Paxton. He described Talarico, a state representative from the Austin area and a former middle school teacher, as the 'antithesis of Texas values'.

Republican leaders had warned Trump for months that nominating Paxton would make the seat far more expensive to defend, Axios reported. Texas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, and Trump carried the state by 14 points two years ago.

Cornyn and Rove Keep Their Distance

Cornyn, a four-term senator, lost the runoff to Paxton in May. He has pledged to support the Republican ticket but has not endorsed Paxton directly. He remains in the Senate until his current term ends in January 2027. He told The Texas Tribune in August that he would not move money towards Paxton's campaign, and he has described Paxton as lazy and a 'poor campaigner'.

After audio leaked from a Paxton event in Washington, Cornyn offered a pointed piece of advice. 'Got to be more careful when you run with the big dogs,' he told Semafor, according to Axios.

Rove, the architect of George W. Bush's presidential campaigns and his former deputy chief of staff, and a co-founder of the Republican super PAC American Crossroads, has not said whether he will vote for Paxton.

He has argued that Paxton's scandals gave Talarico an opening to flip the state. Speaking at The Texas Tribune Festival in September, he said the Senate race 'would be over' if Cornyn had won the nomination.

He cited allegations aired at Paxton's 2023 impeachment trial, which ended in acquittal and did not involve any criminal finding, and said the contest would otherwise have been 'a normal Republican versus Democrat'.

Both men have also broken with their party in a down-ballot race. Cornyn has said he may leave the railroad commissioner contest blank over racist comments made by the Republican candidate, Bo French, and Rove has said he will vote for Democrat Jon Rosenthal in that race.

Money Pours Into a Close Race

A poll released this week showed Talarico leading Paxton by 50% to 47%, Axios reported. The Texas Tribune said polls have generally given Talarico single-digit leads, though the race remains competitive.

Talarico raised about £48 million ($64 million) in the third quarter, and his campaign said 97% of contributions were under $100 (£75). Paxton raised about £13.4 million ($18 million) over the same period. More than £370 million ($500 million) in advertising spending is flowing into the race, according to estimates from the tracking firm AdImpact cited by Axios.

Outside groups are also spending heavily. Federal Election Commission filings released on Thursday showed that Elon Musk gave £118 million ($158 million) to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main Senate Republican super PAC, in two transactions in September.

On the day after each donation, the Senate Leadership Fund sent a transfer of the same size to a newly created super PAC supporting Paxton, according to Axios. The filings show the flow of money between committees; they do not suggest the transactions were improper.

The figures underline what is at stake. A Talarico win would hand Democrats a seat that Republicans have held for decades and would complicate the party's effort to keep its Senate majority.

Paxton has spent the campaign under a cloud of controversies, from his 2023 impeachment by the Texas House over allegations of bribery and abuse of office linked to the property developer Nate Paul, and his acquittal by the state Senate, to a divorce filed by his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton, in July 2025, which she said she sought 'on biblical grounds'. Trump endorsed him before the May runoff and celebrated his victory over Cornyn.

Talarico, speaking at a CNN town hall the night before Trump's post, criticised what he called the 'corruption' of the Trump administration and pushed back on his own party's record on border security.

Texans vote on 3 November.