Trump backs Paxton in Texas Republican Senate showdown with Cornyn

By Fox News · Fox News

President Donald Trump is finally taking sides in the contentious and costly Republican Senate primary showdown in Texas between longtime Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton. The president on Tuesday, in a highly anticipated announcement, endorsed Paxton, a MAGA champion. The president's extremely potent endorsement came one week before the runoff between Cornyn and Paxton in right-leaning Texas. "Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate," Trump wrote in a social media post. The two heated rivals topped a crowded field of contenders in an early March primary, but since no one cleared the 50% threshold, the nomination race headed into overtime, with the runoff election on May 26. Trump teased his long-awaited endorsement on the grounds of his colossal ballroom, which is still under construction as the Senate mulls whether to provide hundreds of millions in security funding for the project. He decided that now was the time to endorse, after several months of staying neutral, because early voting for the next week's runoff had opened. "There are those that say whoever I endorse is going to win," Trump said. "I don't know if that's true, but historically, that's absolutely true. I just don't like to say it because I don't like to brag." Cornyn or Paxton will face off in the general election against rising Democratic Party star state Rep. James Talarico, who topped progressive firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a vocal Trump critic, in the Democrats' primary. Talarico is trying to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Senate election in right-leaning Texas. PAXTON VOWS HE'S STAYING IN THE SENATE RACE This year's Senate showdown in Texas is one of a handful across the country that could determine if Republicans hold their majority in the chamber in the midterm elections. The GOP currently controls the Senate 53-47. The president took to social media the day a…