If everything is bigger in Texas, then Republicans are in for a doozy of a Senate primary.
Attorney General Ken Paxton made his long-expected challenge to Sen. John Cornyn official on Tuesday evening, teeing up an intraparty clash the party fears will sap resources from other competitive races in 2026 and could give Democrats a shot at flipping the seat in a favorable midterm environment.
“Sacrificing Texas is not an option,” said one national GOP strategist. “If Paxton wins [the primary] we can still win, but there is a scenario where we could lose it.”
Texas isn’t initially a top Democratic target, but the minority party only has two obvious offensive opportunities in North Carolina and Maine. In order to find a way to flip the four seats they need to regain the majority — which remains a tall task, whether a wave year is brewing or not — they need to put one of the other double-digit Trump states in play.
Donald Trump won Texas by 14 points, and highly-touted Democratic Rep. Colin Allred fell short by nearly nine
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