Texas Democrat James Talarico’s projected victory over Rep. Jasmine Crockett in Tuesday’s primary should give President Donald Trump cause to finally back incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, Republicans have said.
The president has so far held off from backing either Cornyn or his MAGA challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, but the former’s strong performance in Tuesday’s GOP primary forced a runoff that will take place on May 26.
With Talarico seemingly coming out on top against Crockett – who is contesting the result in court amid reported chaos at the polls in Dallas County, which she blamed on Republican meddling – a GOP operative has told Politico it is time for conservatives to “take him seriously.”
Talarico is a “big reason for Trump to get in for Cornyn and end this thing,” said the publication’s source, described as a close Trump administration ally.
Talarico’s win “reaffirms the need to have Cornyn as the nominee,” they said. “Can’t risk this to Paxton.”
“Look, it will probably cost some money,” the same person said of the prospect of the president backing Cornyn in the runoff. “It’s just money, we have a lot of it.”
Another source told the outlet it would be “very surprising” for Trump to now endorse Paxton, a more natural ally, after he failed to prove he could beat the incumbent, raising questions about his chances of seeing off the Democratic rising star come November’s midterms.
Establishment Republicans fear that the scandal-marred Paxton could repel voters and play into the hands of the clean-cut Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and former teacher.
“I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered, and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton risk everything we’ve worked so hard to build over these many years,” Cornyn said in Austin on Tuesday evening. “There is simply too much at stake.”
Paxton was equally defiant, telling his supporters in Dallas: “John Cornyn spent around $100 million trying to buy this seat. We spent around $5 million… We prove something they’ll never understand in Washington: Texas is not for sale.”
Cornyn has been unpopular with the Trumpian wing of his party since backing gun control legislation following the horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde in 2022 and after dismissing Trump’s prospects in a 2023 interview by suggesting “time has passed him by.”
The MAGA-approved Paxton, however, was impeached for corruption in 2023 by the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives, only to be acquitted in the Senate, and has also separated from his wife, State Senator Angela Paxton, who is seeking a divorce “on Biblical grounds” over alleged infidelity.
Should voters back Talarico in November, it would count as a major upset and mark the first time Democrats have won a statewide race in Texas since 1998 – and go a long way towards their party’s goal of flipping the Senate.
They need to win four seats nationally to achieve that end, overturning the slim 53-47 Republican majority that currently holds sway.
Talarico boosted his national profile with a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, in which he was backed by the influential host.
He also benefited from the uproar caused by attorneys at CBS moving to block his interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show last month, citing equal time rules.
The comic challenged the network on air over the decision and released his chat with Talarico on his YouTube channel, garnering fresh interest, support, and donations for the candidate’s campaign.
Crockett is better known nationally, familiar from her regular TV appearances on attacks on Republicans, memorably denouncing former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene over her “bleach blonde bad-built butch body” and causing offense by referring to the wheelchair-bound Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as “Hot Wheels.”
