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Neither candidate received a majority of votes in the primary in March. At that point, President Donald Trump had yet to make an endorsement. But last week, Trump threw his support behind Paxton, who has been dogged by concerns about corruption and infidelity.
The attorney general has a scandal-ridden record that includes an impeachment by the GOP-controlled Texas House of Representatives for abusing his office. Those impeachment articles allege that Paxton used his office to assist a donor, Nate Paul, who was the subject of a federal investigation. Paul also employed a woman who was having an affair with Paxton, at the attorney general’s behest. Separately, Paxton agreed to a deal in which he avoided trial on securities fraud charges.
On Tuesday, CNN’s Manu Raju caught up with Cornyn in Texas just hours before the polls closed.
“I think there’s a good chance he might not win, and I think there’s an even better chance that he would help weigh down, weigh down people down the ticket,” Cornyn said, before predicting that the GOP would have to spend “several hundreds of millions of dollars” to vault Paxton to victory over Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
“I think it’s time for accountability,” the senator added. “He’s gotten away with so much for so long and not been held accountable for it. But I think he is an embarrassment, his misbehavior, and he’s completely unrepentant. I mean, it’s one thing for a person to make a mistake and then say, you know, ‘I’m sorry, I’ll do better next time.’ But that’s not Ken Paxton.”
The president’s endorsement of Paxton has irked some Republican senators.
“Oh boy,” reacted Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND), who learned of the endorsement on Capitol Hill last week. “Well, obviously, I support Senator Cornyn.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) refused to even answer questions about it. However, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) went so far as to say that the president’s endorsement risks losing the seat.
Republicans control the Senate 53-47. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to retake the chamber.
Watch above via CNN.
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