President Trump met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Wednesday evening to talk about Senate races, including Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) fraught primary against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), according to a source familiar with the matter.
Senate Leadership Fund officials were also present at the meeting. The source said the meeting was broadly about Senate races, and Cornyn’s race came up.
Paxton and Cornyn are both Trump allies, and the president has not endorsed in the primary.
The meeting comes as polls show Paxton leading Cornyn ahead of the February primary.
The primary could be of top concern to Republicans because other polls show Democrats within striking distance of Paxton in a general election. A poll released by Texas Southern University last month showed Cornyn leading Senate candidate and former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) by 4 points and Paxton leading Allred by 2. A separate poll released by the Senate Leadership Fund, which is supporting Cornyn, showed Cornyn leading Allred by 6 points, while Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) led Allred by 4 and Paxton trailed him by 1.
Cornyn’s allies believe a Trump endorsement would help Cornyn close the gap with Paxton, and would alleviate any general election concerns.
The dynamic has made Democrats particularly optimistic in the red state ahead of 2026. The Texas Majority PAC and the Texas Democratic Party launched an eight-figure campaign dubbed “Blue Texas” last week aimed at electing Democrats up and down the ballot in the Lone Star State next year.
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