In the final week of what may be his last campaign, Senator John Cornyn of Texas posed for photos in a mostly empty oak grove in Austin and doled out hugs at a San Antonio senior living center.
By the time he got to Houston on Thursday, he assured his supporters that he was “running through the tape.” Updates from the campaign were tagged “stillwithCornyn” on social media.
It could be interpreted as a warning sign that Mr. Cornyn had to tell supporters that he would keep campaigning until the primary runoff ends on Tuesday.
Such assurances became necessary last week after President Trump threw his considerable Republican primary weight behind Mr. Cornyn’s opponent, Ken Paxton, the MAGA-aligned Texas attorney general.
The last-minute endorsement shook Mr. Cornyn’s campaign and made what was already a tough re-election fight into a much more daunting battle.
Mr. Cornyn’s supporters began to seriously consider the possibility that the man they had cherished for his steadfastness and decency in over four decades in public life might very well lose.
At the event in Houston, Phil Gramm, the former senator from Texas, began choking up as he introduced Mr. Cornyn to a packed room of about 50 real estate brokers whose association had endorsed his re-election.
“He’s somebody I can say to my grandchildren, ‘This is someone you can be proud of, someone who has character, who has leadership, and who gets things done,’” Mr. Gramm said, his voice cracking. “I’m very proud to be here, John.”
Several people appeared touched by his emotion. Mr. Gramm, in an interview after his remarks, attributed his feelings in the moment to a sense of “nostalgia,” adding that many people there for Mr. Cornyn were also “old supporters of mine.”
Mr. Cornyn, 74, has emphasized his experience and seniority in the Senate, to which he was first elected in 2002, as a vital asset for Texas. But with voters across the country seething over high prices and looking for change, his longevity and deep ties in Washington have been weaponized against him by Mr. Paxton.
The attorney general has questioned Mr. Cornyn’s loyalty to Mr. Trump. Mr. Paxton has also criticized Mr. Cornyn’s efforts at bipartisan compromise, particularly around a 2022 gun bill passed in response to a devastating elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that year. Mr. Paxton, 63, has attempted to drive a wedge between Republicans who have long voted for Mr. Cornyn and the hard-line faction that never quite trusted him.
Mr. Cornyn has responded by stressing his alignment with President Trump, highlighting his conservative credentials on the economy and the border, and warning that Mr. Paxton’s history of legal and ethical troubles — including accusations of adultery in his messy divorce — could be easy fodder for Democrats in November.
“If Ken Paxton, with the incredible baggage that he brings into this election, were to somehow end up being the nominee, he could well lose that race to James Talarico,” Mr. Cornyn told his Houston supporters, referring to the Democratic candidate for the Senate.
Mr. Cornyn said that if he lost to Mr. Paxton, he would support the Republican “ticket” — not quite bringing himself to say he would support the man he has called unfit for the role.
Mr. Paxton has used Mr. Trump’s endorsement to suggest the Republican primary is effectively already over. He said his campaign would stop spending money to attack Mr. Cornyn. A political action committee aligned with Mr. Paxton declared the same, and instead posted a new ad attacking Mr. Talarico, a state representative and Christian seminarian.
At the same time, Mr. Paxton has continued to criticize Mr. Cornyn at public events.
“Can you name one good accomplishment of John Cornyn?” Mr. Paxton asked his supporters in San Antonio last week. “I have never had anybody give me an answer that was yes.”
Mr. Cornyn vowed to keep the attacks coming through Election Day. “We’re not going to quit telling the truth about his record,” he said in Houston.
As Mr. Cornyn made campaign stops last week, he saw old friends and longtime backers. The crowds were not large, and they often included people who had supported him for years, if not decades.
Some were political allies, like Mr. Gramm and Rick Perry, the former Texas governor, who appeared with Mr. Cornyn in San Antonio. Others were friends. In Austin, his former dentist held a sign reading, “True Conservatives Support John Cornyn.”
“John is a very honest, very honest man,” said Linda Radwanski, 73, who attended the event in Austin with her husband. She described herself as a longtime friend of Mr. Cornyn and “not really a big Trump person.” Their families had gone camping together in the past, she said, and she and her husband, Wayne, had dinner with Mr. Cornyn in Washington last fall.
“It’s been a challenge for him, just physically and mentally, knowing that’s what he’s got to do,” Ms. Radwanski said. “But I think he’s got all his ducks in a row, and he’s ready to make it happen.”
Mr. Radwanski, the dentist who had once treated Mr. Cornyn, said he was nervous about the election. “I don’t want to see somebody like Paxton as our senator — I’d be so embarrassed,” he said.
“We’ll vote for Talarico over Paxton,” his wife said.
“It’ll be an easy sell for the Democrats,” he added.
At the senior living center in San Antonio, dozens of residents, some well into their 90s, warmly greeted the senator, whom they had long supported. Many planned to do so again.
“I’m just concerned about our country now,” said Ruth Jones, 89.
Her friend from the center, Kathy Diem, 95, agreed. “We’ve got to get prices down,” she said.
The San Antonio appearance was on Monday, a day before Mr. Trump offered his endorsement to Mr. Paxton. Mr. Cornyn’s campaign appeared cautiously optimistic that if it could just get enough Republicans to vote, he had a good chance of winning.
After Mr. Cornyn’s remarks, he stayed to shake hands and pose for photos. As he did so, Bradley Heinz Kessler, 29, looked on, wearing a black “Trump 2020” shirt with an assault rifle on the front.
Mr. Kessler, a farmer who appeared to be the youngest person at the event, said he was “still on the fence” about who to vote for. In March, he voted for a third candidate, Wesley Hunt. He said his biggest issues were health care and farming.
For the runoff, he said on Monday, he had been “waiting for whoever Trump endorses — but it never came out.”
The next day, Mr. Trump backed Mr. Paxton.
J. David Goodman is the Texas bureau chief for The Times, based in Houston.
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