A primary race between Republicans threatens to turn dirty as they battle to become a Texas senator.
Incumbent John Cornyn rolled out a withering new attack on MAGA fave Ken Paxton, with the launch of KenStoppers.com where voters can submit information about his opponent’s alleged misconduct.
The Cornyn campaign insists the site—whose name riffs on Crime Stoppers—is a real working tip line, not just a troll aimed at his fellow Republicans’ well-documented legal troubles.
Paxton, the Texas attorney general hoping to oust Cornyn, is weighed down by years of scandal, but so far, he has shaken off everything thrown at him.
“Texans don’t like horse thieves, and there is no elected official in Texas history with a broader and deeper record of impropriety than Crooked Ken Paxton,” Cornyn senior adviser Matt Mackowiak told the Washington Examiner.
“He is comically serving as our state’s chief law enforcement officer after a decade of violating as many laws, rules, and regulations as he could.”
In 2015, he was indicted for securities fraud and made a $300,000 settlement deal to avoid a criminal trial.
In 2023, he was impeached by the Republican-controlled state House over accusations of corruption and abuse of power connected to his affair, though the state Senate acquitted him.
The FBI has also investigated whether Paxton used his position to secure favors, including home renovations and a job for a woman with whom he was allegedly having an affair.
Add in a $3.3 million whistleblower settlement and his failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election, and Cornyn’s camp is betting voters won’t ignore his travails.
Cornyn, therefore, has framed the race as a referendum on integrity. “This is a test of character, and whether character still matters,” he said.
The senator must defeat Paxton in the March GOP primary to secure a fifth term. “What I hear from the Paxton camp is that all of the problems he’s had, all the self-inflicted damage, he’s inflicted on himself, that’s all baked in the cake and the people don’t care,” Cornyn told CBS Texas political reporter Jack Fink.
“I believe that character does still matter, and I believe I’ve demonstrated I could be trusted and that I have been effective on behalf of the state of Texas.”
Polling shows the race tightening, though the primary is still six months away. Cornyn acknowledged Paxton’s appeal to Trump loyalists. “There is certainly some support for the attorney general out there based on this perception that he is some sort of MAGA warrior and that he is favored even by President Trump,” Cornyn said.
But he added, “I know President Trump well. I have worked with him closely for a number of years now. I know what he really cares about is his agenda and what he got elected on.”
The two Republicans have been trading shots online. Last week, Paxton posted on X, “John Cornyn’s not a MAGA Republican, but he plays one on TV.”
Cornyn fired back after Paxton boasted about directing Texas schools to display the Ten Commandments under a new law. “Might want to brush up on the Ten Commandments, Ken,” Cornyn wrote. Asked which commandments he was referring to, Cornyn replied, “All ten of them.”
He added, “I think this is indicative of the hypocrisy that we’ve seen from the attorney general, who pretends to be something he’s not… He is self-destructive, he’s reckless, and he can’t be trusted.”
It comes after Paxton’s wife, Angela, announced that she’s leaving him, the staunch Christian conservative and anti-abortion crusader who confessed to carrying on a years-long affair.
“I believe marriage is a sacred covenant and I have earnestly pursued reconciliation,” she wrote in a social media post. “But in light of recent discoveries, I do not believe that it honors God or is loving to myself, my children, or Ken to remain in the marriage.”
The post Republican Launches Hotline for Tips About His MAGA Star Rival appeared first on The Daily Beast.
