A new episode of drama is flaring up in the fiercely contested Republican U.S. Senate primary in Texas, where incumbent Sen. John Cornyn is accusing his highest-polling challenger, Attorney General Ken Paxton, of abusing his official powers to write a 74-page campaign ad masquerading as a legal opinion.
Paxton, a far-right firebrand who previously tried to help President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 presidential election, announced the opinion on Monday. The opinion, timed for Martin Luther King Day, essentially seeks to abolish diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs not just in state agencies but in many private-sector businesses as well — and goes out of its way to accuse Cornyn of looking the other way on illegal diversity practices.
“This action to dismantle DEI in Texas helps fulfill the vision articulated by Martin Luther King, Jr.” stated Paxton, who went on to claim that Cornyn “muddied the waters” and “refused” to abolish DEI when he served as Texas Attorney General in 1999.
Cornyn did not let this political slight in what is supposed to be a formal legal opinion of the government go unanswered, taking to X in response.
“Was this bogus ‘opinion’ an illegal, in-kind contribution to his campaign? Inquiring minds (and the Federal Election Commission) want to know,” wrote Cornyn, adding, “Abusing his government office for personal and political gain. AGAIN.”
All of this comes as polling shows a hotly contested three-way race between Cornyn, Paxton, and Congressman Wesley Hunt. Paxton has generally been ahead in polling. Trump is not making an endorsement in the race, letting it play out without his influence at least for the time being.
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