For months, the Senate Republican campaign operation eviscerated Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, who on Tuesday won the state’s Senate primary, in official statements that attacked him for “incompetence” and branded his personal behavior “truly repulsive and disgusting.”
And last week when President Trump endorsed Mr. Paxton, Republican senators were livid, grousing that the president had put his personal desire for loyalty above the party’s political interests, potentially risking the Texas seat and the G.O.P.’s chances of holding the Senate.
But after Mr. Paxton trounced Senator John Cornyn of Texas by close to 30 points on Tuesday night, transforming Texas into a battleground state, Republicans have performed a very awkward pivot.
They quickly memory-holed months of scathing charges against Mr. Paxton that were as withering as any that Democrats might conjure up. And, swallowing their anger about the snub of Mr. Cornyn and its potential political consequences, they lined up to express varying levels of “all in” on Mr. Paxton’s campaign, if not his character.
“We’re making the pivot,” Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and majority leader, said in an interview on Wednesday with the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, acknowledging the shift.
Mr. Thune said he had already spoken with Mr. Paxton, whom he described as “all in, ready to go for the fall election and not taking any time off, already on the phone raising money, and all the things you’re going to have to do to be successful.”
It was an indication that the G.O.P., now tasked with reassuring concerned donors and rallying a divided party for an expensive and competitive race, was racing to unite and salvage its chances of holding the Texas seat.
Senator Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina and the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, wrote on social media: “I stand united with President Trump, Ken Paxton, and Texans who want to protect our Republican Majority.”
And behind the scenes, the committee quietly laid the groundwork for the 180-degree turn the party has been forced to perform.
The N.R.S.C. quickly scrubbed its website of all of its Paxton attack ads and news releases, including one from last summer, which was posted under the headline “Ken Paxton’s Lies and Incompetence Keep Piling Up.”
Gone, too, was a digital ad that described Mr. Paxton as “so asleep at the wheel he is treating Texas’ taxpayer dollars like Monopoly money — funneling hundreds of millions to liberal organizations and candidates.”
A statement from the organization’s communications director, Joanna Rodriguez, after Mr. Paxton’s wife filed for divorce “on biblical grounds,” stated that the candidate’s behavior was “truly repulsive and disgusting,” and that “no one should have to endure what Angela Paxton has.”
That statement is also no longer available on the group’s website. CNN reported earlier that the group had wiped much of its website.
Some individual senators who had been backing Mr. Cornyn immediately closed ranks around Mr. Paxton after his victory. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, the No. 2 Republican, endorsed him within hours of his victory on Tuesday night, writing online that a vote for Mr. Paxton in November was “a vote for a safer, stronger, and more prosperous America.”
Never mind previous attacks from Republicans accusing Mr. Paxton of being responsible for the rise in rates of violent crime in the state.
Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, had stayed neutral in the race, but said that Mr. Paxton now had his full support.
Mr. Paxton is no one’s idea of an ideal general election candidate in Texas. He has been indicted on felony securities fraud charges and impeached. He was once accused of stealing a $1,000 pen, and his wife is in the midst of divorcing him, listing grounds including “adultery.”
When Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Paxton, Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, told reporters that the move “puts that seat in jeopardy.”
Still, the party is ignoring all of that and focusing instead on tearing down his Democratic opponent. In a statement, the N.R.S.C., the group that had worked hardest to destroy him, wrote after Mr. Paxton’s win that “a state President Trump won by nearly 14 points isn’t going to elect James Talarico.”
It notably stopped short of mentioning Mr. Paxton by name.
Annie Karni is a congressional correspondent for The Times.
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