Trump flexes his political muscle over GOP as Democrats see midterm opening in key red state

PLANO, Texas - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, after trouncing longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn to capture the Republican Senate nomination in the right-leaning Lone Star State, credited the 11th hour support he landed from President Donald Trump for his win.

"The president's endorsement is the most valuable endorsement in this country," Paxton said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital minutes after delivering his victory speech in Tuesday's primary runoff election.

The brute force of the president's endorsement power and the immense grip he has on the Republican Party was once again on display in the Texas showdown, but his heavy hand could cause repercussions as the party tries to hang onto its slim House and Senate majorities in the November midterms.

That's especially the case in Texas, where Paxton now faces off against state Rep. James Talarico — a rising star in the Democratic Party — in a general election race that is among a handful that may decide if the Republicans hold their 53-47 majority in the upper chamber.

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Tuesday night's major headline was Trump successfully flexing his political muscles to exert payback on Republicans who defy him, and testing the power of his endorsements in GOP nomination races.

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The Texas runoff election was held three weeks after Trump's purging of five state senators in Indiana's primary who opposed his push for congressional redistricting. That was just a week-and-a-half after the president pushed to oust Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — who, five and a half years ago, voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial. Trump was also instrumental this month in sending vocal GOP critic Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky down to defeat in his re-election bid.

After sitting on the sidelines for months in the more than year-long Cornyn-Paxton battle, which broke records as the most expensive Senate primary in the nation's history, Trump gave a last-minute endorsement of Paxton last week.

"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 exactly a week before election day in the Lone Star State.

And Trump said that "John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough."

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Pointing to the senator's past criticism of him, Trump added, "John was very late in backing me in what turned out to be a Historic Run for the Republican Nomination, and then, the Presidency."

Cornyn, in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff, emphasized his support for the president and his agenda.

"President Trump has called me a friend and a good man, and we've worked with him closely for both terms of office," the senator said.

Cornyn, who was supported by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, repeatedly argued that if Paxton was the GOP's nominee, the party would be forced to spend millions of dollars to keep the seat from flipping and that Republicans down-ballot will suffer.

That's because Paxton has faced a slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered him over the past decade and that Democrats are sure to use against him in the general election. In 2023, the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton, but he was eventually acquitted of all charges by the state Senate.

Paxton is also currently dealing with a very messy divorce, with his wife citing "biblical grounds" based on "recent discoveries" as she filed last year to end their marriage.

"He's gotten more and more emboldened as he's gotten away with all the scandal and mischief that now is very well known, but were he to be the nominee and be exposed to general election voters, especially independents, I think it's going to be a very rocky time," Cornyn predicted.

And pointing to Talarico, who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising during the first three months of this year, the Texas senator said, "There will be an incredible tsunami of Democratic funds coming in against Paxton, were he the nominee. Conversely... if I am the nominee... we'll be able to shoulder the burden pretty much on our own. I won my last general election by 10 points. I think I can do similarly against somebody who's as far left and radical as James Talarico."

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Talarico's campaign wasted no time in posting a mug shot of Paxton on social media after Tuesday's victory, noting: "He was indicted on 3 felony counts for investment fraud. He was reported to the FBI by his own staff for bribery. He was impeached by his own party for corruption."

"Now he’s the Republican nominee for US Senate in Texas. Together we will stop him," the Talarico campaign vowed.

Public opinion polls indicate a very competitive showdown between Paxton and Talarico - as Talarico tries to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a U.S. Senate election in Texas.

Democrats see Paxton's victory as an early Christmas gift.

"It's a brand new day and I think what Democrats are seeing for the first time in almost three decades is a bright light in a dark place that we have been in this state," Texas-based Democratic strategist Dallas Jones told Fox News Digital.

Some Republicans are concerned that Trump's putting his thumb on the scales in key GOP Senate primaries could be a flashback to 2022, when then-former President Trump flexed his muscles in the GOP primaries, with some of his picks, including Georgia's Herschel Walker, falling short in the midterms, as Republicans failed to win back the Senate.

"Trump got his way in most of the primaries in 2022 also. Didn’t portend great results in the general election," vocal Trump critic and GOP consultant Sarah Longwell posted on social media Tuesday night.

Veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News Digital that "the president has shown that he puts personal loyalty over political considerations even when it puts a safe seat at risk."

And pointing to this year's midterms, when the GOP as the party in power will face traditional headwinds as well as an extremely challenging political climate, Ryan said, "That’s the situation Republicans find themselves dealing with heading into what should be a challenging midterm election."

But Williams emphasized that "the Republican Party is Trump’s party, and if you cross him, he’ll hit back at you ten times as hard and defeat you. He’s getting better at this as time goes on. His grip on the party has increased, not decreased."

"Anybody at this point who doesn’t understand this will be out of a job if they cross the president," he added.