Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Objections to the Trump administration’s controversial anti-weaponization fund prompted Senate Republican leaders on Thursday to punt a vote on a GOP package to fund ICE and Border Patrol until June, two GOP sources familiar with the discussions told NBC News.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is standing by establishment favorite John Cornyn even after President Donald Trump threw his full support behind Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the explosive Texas Senate runoff showdown. Thune publicly broke with Trump on Tuesday, telling reporters he would continue backing Cornyn despite the president’s endorsement of Paxton, exposing a growing divide between Senate GOP leadership and the America First movement. “Cornyn is a principled conservative. He is a very effective senator for the state of Texas,” Thune said following Trump’s endorsement announcement. “None of us can control what the president does. That doesn’t...

RINO incumbent Senator John Cornyn on Tuesday signaled he will stay in the Texas Senate race after President Trump endorsed Ken Paxton.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday vented their frustration and disappointment over President Trump’s decision to endorse state Attorney General Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn (R) in the Texas Senate Republican primary, a move that deals a crushing blow to Cornyn’s hopes of winning the May 26 runoff. “I don’t understand. He is an ethically challenged individual,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said of Paxton, who was charged with defrauding investors in a Dallas-area tech startup before he completed a pretrial diversion program. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she was “supremely disappointed” in Trump’s endorsement of Paxton over Cornyn. “I don’t understand...

President Donald Trump endorsed Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Tuesday over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn ahead of the Senate runoff. Cornyn and Paxton competed in a tight matchup as they both campaigned to run against Democratic Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Trump made endorsements for over two dozen Republican candidates across the country, but waited until early voting to make an endorsement in the Texas Senate race. “The Highly Respected Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton, an America First Patriot, and someone who has always been extremely loyal to me and our AMAZING MAGA MOVEMENT, is running for the...

Sen. Thom Tillis is facing backlash from conservatives after reportedly trying to delay a major Senate vote so Sen. John Cornyn could spend more time campaigning against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in next week’s high-stakes Republican runoff. According to Axios, Tillis privately warned fellow Republicans he would oppose moving forward this week on a reconciliation package that includes funding for ICE and Border Patrol operations, arguing the timing could politically hurt Cornyn ahead of the May 26 runoff. Conservatives immediately blasted the move as another example of the Senate establishment putting political survival ahead of border security and President...

AG KEN PAXTON (R): The Republican establishment spent $150 million against me, a Republican. That money could have gone to Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Maine, somewhere it actually helps us hold the majority. Instead, it's being spent to protect an incumbent who's had 24 years in the Senate. Let John Cornyn stand on his own! Let Texas voters decide instead of Washington trying to influence it and mislead people about my record! @KenPaxtonTX

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is introducing new legislation that would designate a major U.S. highway as “Interstate 47,” or “Trump Interstate." Cornyn announced Monday that he introduced the I-47 Future Interstate Act, which would designate U.S. Highway 287 as a future interstate stretching from Port Arthur, Texas, to Choteau, Montana. According to Cornyn’s office, the route would also be known as “Trump Interstate.” “Texas is Trump Country, and this bill cements that legacy by designating nearly 1,800 miles of open road from Texas’ Gulf Coast to the edge of the U.S.-Canadian border as I-47 to forever be remembered as Trump...

Sen. John Cornyn reposted content from the X account “Republicans against Trump” on Friday, sharing a post featuring his criticism of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as the two Republicans are in a Senate primary battle. Cornyn's repost included a message from the anti-Trump account quoting his remarks about Paxton. “I will be direct with Texas voters: Ken Paxton is unfit for this office,” the post stated. The message criticized Paxton, saying, “By every standard that matters, Crooked Ken has failed the character test. The corruption. The legal baggage. The years of self-serving distractions while Texas needed serious leadership.” The...

President Donald Trump said he’ll “make a decision… maybe relatively soon,” on who he wants to endorse in the Republican runoff primary for Texas’s U.S. Senate seat. So far, Trump has played Kingmaker in Republican politics. According to Ballotpedia, he’s endorsed 286 candidates in Republican 2026 primaries across the country, including weighing in on 19 of the 33 primaries for U.S. Senate. One race he’s stayed out of so far — the contentious primary in Texas between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, R. After months of speculation, Trump declined to weigh in on the...

In a report from The Bulwark on Republican sentiment on soaring gas prices… Cornyn, R-TX, said the hike in gas is a "small price to pay" to continue the war. "If the American people understood," Cornyn said, "they would certainly agree." “After 40 years in public office, John Cornyn still doesn’t understand that working Texans are drowning because DC politicians like him are driving up the cost of everything," said Talarico campaign spokesperson J.T. Ennis in a news release… Cornyn is set to face Attorney General Ken Paxton in a May 26 runoff. The winner of that contest will face...

Sen. John Cornyn is facing renewed scrutiny after a resurfaced video began circulating online, raising fresh questions about his past positions on immigration as his re-election campaign intensifies. Cornyn, who has aligned himself closely with Donald Trump on the campaign trail, is now drawing criticism from conservatives who argue his record does not match his current messaging—particularly on the issue of amnesty. The unearthed clip has fueled backlash among Republican voters and added momentum to attacks from his primary challenger, Ken Paxton. Immigration has quickly emerged as a defining issue in the race, with critics pointing to the video as...

SCOOP In an unearthed video, Senator Cornyn’s team forgot to delete a video from YouTube where Cornyn advocates for amnesty for illegal aliens. It would be a shame if every Republican in Texas sees this before the May 26th runoff. No amnesty!

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick on Wednesday said Texas Republicans are “going to have a tough time” holding onto their majority in the state House this fall, the latest and perhaps most notable sign yet of GOP unease about the midterm elections. Speaking at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s annual conference in Austin, Patrick said it is imperative for the loser of Republicans’ rancorous Senate primary runoff — whether it’s U.S. Sen. John Cornyn or Attorney General Ken Paxton — to support the winner against Democratic candidate James Talarico. The Austin state representative locked up his party’s nomination in March and...

@Bannons_WarRoom STEVE BANNON: Ken Paxton, now two polls in Texas. Ken Paxton's up 16 against Cornyn and one 18 against Cornyn the other. As I predicted that there's just no way the more Cornyn puts out this money for these negative ads trying to destroy Ken Paxton. The more the grassroots base, the MAGA base turns against him.

President Trump allowed the deadline for candidates to drop out to pass Tuesday without making an endorsement in the hotly contested Republican Texas Senate primary runoff race. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking on incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the May 26 runoff, after neither candidate received 50% of the vote in the primary earlier this month. Trump had previously said he would ask whichever candidate did not receive his endorsement to drop out of the race. Paxton has said he would be willing to drop out if Senate Republicans agreed to roll back the filibuster and pass...

A senior staff member for Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) reelection campaign has a history of raging against Breitbart News and President Donald Trump while aligning with radical leftists. Matt Mackowiak, who serves as the communications director for Cornyn’s campaign, once demanded advertisers drop Breitbart News and said the outlet should be “defrocked” from the conservative movement, tweets unearthed by The National Pulse reveal. “It’s time to defrock Breitbart from the conservative movement. Treat them like Infowars. Pressure their advertisers. Ignore them,” Mackowiak wrote in a post to X in 2016.

The already heated Texas Senate primary just got a major shakeup after longtime Republican power broker Karl Rove publicly backed incumbent Sen. John Cornyn—a move many grassroots conservatives say perfectly captures everything wrong with the GOP establishment. Rather than helping Cornyn, the endorsement is being widely interpreted by America First activists as a political liability that could strengthen Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the race. The development came after the endorsement became public on social media, with observers noting that Rove’s support for Cornyn may actually energize conservative voters who have grown deeply distrustful of the Republican establishment. Establishment...

Establishment Republican Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) appeared visibly rattled when confronted by a conservative reporter about his record opposing key elements of President Donald Trump’s agenda. During a tense exchange with journalist Alison Steinberg, Cornyn was asked why Trump should back him in the ongoing Texas Republican Senate race given his long history of clashes with the America First movement. Rather than directly addressing the question, Cornyn attempted to dismiss the reporter and accused her of working for one of his political rivals. Steinberg asked Cornyn what he would say to voters questioning his alignment with Trump’s policies. “What do...

The scenario long-dreaded by Republican strategists looks increasingly plausible following Tuesday’s primary election in Texas: Democrat James Talarico may face Republican Ken Paxton for the state’s U.S. Senate seat in November. Paxton is heading for a runoff against Sen. John Cornyn where he is likely to be at least a slight favorite, though the final results from the first round of voting could shift expectations. Talarico defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary, according to Associated Press projections. Republicans fear the matchup could, at the very least, cost the party tens of millions of dollars to protect Paxton, the...