Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is running for the U.S. Senate in a bid to oust incumbent Senator John Cornyn and “carry the torch for Trump’s agenda,” he announced on a campaign website launched Tuesday evening.
Current UT president Jim Davis served under Paxton in the Attorney General’s office before becoming UT’s vice president for legal affairs.
“It’s definitely time for a change in Texas,” Paxton said while announcing his campaign on Fox News Tuesday. “It’s time we have another great Senator that will actually stand up and fight for Republican values, fight for the values of the people of Texas and also support Donald Trump.”
The two contenders will face a primary in March 2026, leaving Cornyn and Paxton to battle for funding from major Texas donors for the next year. Both are vying to earn the party nomination ahead of the November general election.
Following Paxton’s announcement, Cornyn’s team said on social media that his voting record has supported Donald Trump more than nearly all current senators. Both Cornyn and Paxton launched into personal attacks Tuesday — something that has been common recently in the lead up to the campaign launch.
“Ken Paxton is a fraud,” Cornyn’s team said in the X statement. “He talks tough on crime and then lets crooked progressive Lina Hidalgo off the hook. He says his impeachment trial was a sham but he didn’t contest the facts in legal filings which will cost the state millions. He says he’s anti-woke but he funnels millions of taxpayer dollars to lawyers who celebrate DEI. And Ken (Paxton) claims to be a man of faith but uses fake Uber accounts to meet his girlfriend and deceive his family.”
Paxton’s race for the seat comes amidst a period of growing fame for the Attorney General. He faced a state impeachment trial in 2023 where he was impeached by the Texas House on charges relating to corruption and fraud, but was narrowly acquitted by the Texas Senate. Paxton also narrowly avoided prosecution for corruption allegations from the Biden-era Justice Department toward the end of the former president’s term.
The attorney general previously served in both chambers of the Texas legislature, and is married to state Sen. Angela Paxton.
Cornyn is running for his fifth term, having been first elected in 2002. U.S. Senators serve six-year terms, and Cornyn is up for reelection in 2026. He previously served on the Texas Supreme Court, as Texas attorney general and as a district judge, before rising to become the Republican Whip in the higher chamber of Congress.
The GOP competition comes as Democratic competitors are also contemplating a run to challenge Cornyn in November. Colin Allred, the Texas congressman who faced off unsuccessfully against Texas’ other senator, Ted Cruz, in 2024, is among them.
