Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hopes to retain Republican control of the open Senate seat in the Lone Star State this November. Will Paxton have the help of outgoing Sen. John Cornyn ahead of November's election? Paxton indicated he isn't sure.
"I'd love to have John's support. You'd have to ask him," Paxton said Sunday during an appearance on Fox News' The Big Weekend Show. "That's totally up to him as to what he wants to do."
It remains to be seen whether Cornyn, who spent 24 years as a senator in Texas beginning in 2002, will endorse Paxton after events of the last year. The two Republicans waged a combative primary for the Republican Senate nomination through May, when Paxton won a runoff election by more than 27 points to end Cornyn's time in Congress. Cornyn hasn't exactly spoke glowingly of Paxton since.
"Paxton's a poor campaigner," Cornyn told the Texas Tribune last month. "He's lazy and doesn't raise money. And he basically is not offering a very compelling case for his election. He's making this harder than it needs to be. But so be it-we are where we are."
Paxton faces an unwanted hurdle from his own party in his attempt to secure Texas' open Senate seat. Meanwhile, his rival across the political aisle is facing a similar lack of enthusiasm from his own primary opponent.
Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) won Texas' Democratic nomination for Senate in March when he defeated now-outgoing U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas) in the party's primary. Crockett has yet to join Talarico on the campaign trail in Texas as of early September. She said late last month she doesn't plan to change that before November, instead focusing her efforts on "down-ballot" races across Texas.
"When we're looking at a state like Texas, we've tried this, where we've got one amazing candidate that's running at the top of the ticket," Crockett told CNN's Laura Coates. "I think that making sure that people-that maybe are getting overshadowed because it seems like it's only about one big race-I think amplifying them, making sure that I can raise their profiles and introducing them to people, that'll give something more to voters."
The fate of Texas' open Senate seat will be determined on Nov. 3. Talarico seeks to become to first Democrat to represent Texas in the Senate since Bob Krueger left office in 1993, while Paxton hopes to join fellow Republican Ted Cruz as the two U.S. Senators from the Lone Star State.
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This article originally published at Will John Cornyn come around on Ken Paxton? 'Ask him.'.