Paxton routs Cornyn in Texas Republican Senate runoff; far-right candidates sweep statewide races

Ken Paxton, the twice-indicted and once-impeached former Texas attorney general, defeated incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn by nearly 30 percentage points Tuesday, capping a sweeping night for far-right candidates in the Texas Republican primary runoff.

Paxton led Cornyn 64% to 36% with 83% of precincts reporting statewide — a margin that turned what many observers expected to be a competitive race into a rout. The result ended Cornyn’s four-term Senate career at the hands of Texas Republican primary voters who had once made him one of the most powerful figures in Washington.

Mayes Middleton defeated U.S. Rep. Chip Roy in the attorney general race, 55% to 45%, and Thomas Smith led Alison Fox 58% to 42% in the Court of Criminal Appeals Place 3 race. Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright, an incumbent, trailed challenger Bo French 50.8% to 49.2% in the night’s closest race — a margin of roughly 19,500 votes out of more than 1.2 million cast with 17% of precincts still outstanding.

The Cornyn defeat

Cornyn’s loss was the night’s most significant result by any measure. First elected in 2002, he had served as Senate Majority Whip and Senate Minority Leader and was considered a cornerstone of the Texas Republican establishment. He had never faced a serious primary challenge.

That changed when Paxton entered the race. Paxton, who served as Texas attorney general from 2015 until his resignation following his impeachment by the Texas House in 2023, has faced federal securities fraud charges since 2015 that remain unresolved. The Texas Senate acquitted him of impeachment charges in a proceeding that critics called deeply flawed.

None of it slowed him Tuesday. Paxton’s margin widened as the night went on, suggesting broad enthusiasm among the Republican primary electorate rather than a narrow base of committed supporters.

Cornyn carried absentee voters in Kerr County — one of the few demographic pockets where the incumbent showed strength — but was overwhelmed in early voting statewide.

Middleton and the AG race

Middleton’s victory over Roy completes one of the more striking ideological pivots in recent Texas Republican primary history. Roy, a five-term congressman from Austin known for combative floor speeches and hard-right fiscal positions, entered the race as a credible conservative challenger. He lost by double digits.

Middleton, a Galveston County state senator, had made his name opposing COVID-era public health measures and pushing immigration positions well to the right of the Texas Republican mainstream. Bo French, the Railroad Commissioner challenger, called during the campaign for the deportation of 100 million people from the United States — a number that represents nearly a third of the country’s entire population.

Kerr County Republicans diverged sharply from the statewide result in the AG race, giving Roy 70% of the vote to Middleton’s 30% — a 25-point swing from the statewide outcome. Roy represents Kerr County in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Railroad Commissioner

The Railroad Commissioner race remained unresolved late Tuesday. French led Wright by roughly 19,500 votes with 83% of precincts reporting — a margin of less than 2 percentage points that could shift as the remaining precincts come in. Wright, a former state representative first elected to the commission in 2020, would be the second Railroad Commissioner incumbent to lose a primary in recent cycles if the result holds.

The Railroad Commission regulates the oil and gas industry in Texas, with no jurisdiction over actual railroads.

What’s next

All Republican winners will face Democratic opponents in November. Paxton will face the winner of the Democratic Senate runoff. Statewide, Vikki Goodwin won the Democratic lieutenant governor runoff and Nathan Johnson led Joe Jaworski by a narrow margin in the Democratic attorney general race with results still coming in.