STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Texas Senator John Cornyn is running for a fifth term, and he's facing a tough Republican primary. Early voting starts Tuesday. Houston Public Media's Andrew Schneider reports.
ANDREW SCHNEIDER, BYLINE: If you're in Texas and anywhere near a TV, it's hard not to notice all the attack ads. Cornyn is fighting for his political life against challenges from his own party - State Attorney General Ken Paxton and Houston area Congressman Wesley Hunt.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Ken Paxton enriched himself, lied on loans, funded pro-amnesty groups.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) They're perfectly in step. Crockett calls Cornyn her best partner in the Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Wesley Hunt backed Hillary, abandoned Trump and abandoned Texans.
SCHNEIDER: Hunt is attacking Cornyn both for supposedly not being conservative enough and for his age. Cornyn is 74 and Hunt 44. Here's Hunt in a recent appearance on Newsmax.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WESLEY HUNT: President Trump understands that we're going to need leadership for the future, not just now, but for the next eight, 12, 16 years.
SCHNEIDER: Many of the arguments in the Republican Senate primary seem to boil down to the question of who's the true conservative and which candidate will most support President Trump. Here's Paxton talking about Cornyn on "The Mark Davis Show."
(SOUNDBITE OF PODCAST, "THE MARK DAVIS SHOW")
KEN PAXTON: He's never liked Trump. He didn't want him to win in 2016. I've got clips of that. He didn't want him to win in 2024. He suggested he was a criminal. There's nothing about John Cornyn that's real right now. It's all fake to win a primary 'cause he knows that the voters like Donald Trump.
SCHNEIDER: But Cornyn himself stresses his legislative record is one of near-total support for the president.
JOHN CORNYN: There's a lot at stake with President Trump's second term of office. I'd like to continue to help him accomplish his priorities and goals.
SCHNEIDER: Cornyn, who spoke with Houston Public Media recently for the story, voted to acquit Trump in both of his Senate impeachment trials. He says he's concerned about the prospects of a third Trump impeachment if Democrats recapture Congress. Cornyn points to Paxton's baggage from past and ongoing scandals that could hurt him in the general election.
CORNYN: He claims to be a victim, but strangely enough, most of the things that has happened to him, like his impeachment, like a referral by his own senior staff to the FBI for interfering in a criminal investigation, and blowing up basically his own family, are the result of his own mistakes and misdeeds.
SCHNEIDER: That's a line that Cornyn and his supportive political groups have been pushing since Paxton entered the primary. Paxton was acquitted in his impeachment trial on corruption and abuse of power charges in 2023. He's currently in the midst of a messy public divorce. But Bill Miller, an Austin-based political consultant, says it's not gaining much traction with likely GOP primary voters.
BILL MILLER: The striking thing about Ken Paxton is all these events, and if you add them individually or collectively, they haven't changed his ability to win elections. Not just win, but win handily.
SCHNEIDER: Both Paxton and Hunt declined to be interviewed for this story. As for who ultimately benefits from all the negative politics, Miller says the answer may be the Democrats.
MILLER: I think that's the best thing that they can hope for is that the Republicans self-destruct or destructive toward one another during the primary and weakens him immeasurably for the fall. That's how you win the race if you're a Democrat these days in Texas.
SCHNEIDER: A recent survey shows none of the Republicans polling a clear majority among likely primary voters. That means the GOP primary race could go to a runoff between the top two vote-getters on May 26. By that point, the Democratic contest between Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and Austin state Representative James Talarico is likely to have been decided for more than two months.
For NPR News, I'm Andrew Schneider in Houston. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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