Cornyn Is a Coward, But All the Others Are Worse: Problems with the Texas GOP

Three-Point Shots (and a Free Throw), Sunday, May 31, 2026

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Sunday, May 31, 2026

1. Once More, for the Record: John Cornyn is a Coward

On Friday, three days after conceding to Ken Paxton in their bitter senatorial primary contest, John Cornyn posted the following on X:

Cornyn did not elaborate on his meaning. Who was the scorpion? Was it Donald Trump, whose many depredations and indignities he’d suffered in hopes he would be saved? Was It Ken Paxton, refusing the deference owed a senior statesman? Was it the ungrateful (and totally unserious) voters of the Texas GOP?

One interpretation Cornyn may not have considered: the frog was the people of Texas, and the scorpion was Cornyn himself, abandoning his sworn duty to them and betraying his every moral, legal, and constitutional instinct in service to the Orange Mad King.

After all, from 2003 to 2017, Cornyn has served the people of Texas as their competent, if uninspiring, senator. His brand was dignified head-nodding and condescending gibberish. He could always be counted on to give a “harrumph” at the proper time.

The people of Texas, who’ve never expected much of their elected leaders, were fine with his haughty self-regard and scant record of accomplishment. But in their heart of hearts, they wanted this: do the right thing when push comes to shove. Unlike Ted Cruz, whose militant self-promotion drove him from fierce condemnation in 2016 to abject ass-kissing for the succeeding eight years, Texans expected Cornyn to have something other than his own self-preservation in mind in executing his duties. But it was not to be.

It was not in the scorpion’s nature.

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2. The MAGA Crowd Dispatched John Cornyn With Ease

I don’t think many people had a 27-point victory for Ken Paxton on their dance cards. I certainly didn’t. Cornyn had narrowly won in March, albeit not by enough to avoid a runoff. All the polls from March on showed them within a few points of each other.

National Republican groups who had supported Cornyn in the primary shoveled money into the runoff like boilermen on cocaine – at least $92 million, the most expensive Senate primary in history.

But internal polling was telling a different story. It showed Paxton winning comfortably – news Paxton was eagerly sharing with the White House. Paxton did not win because Donald Trump endorsed him; Trump endorsed him because Paxton was going to win.

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3. The Texas GOP Has Been Hijacked by Mad Dogs

Paxton’s victory over Cornyn is like the necrotic bruising on Trump’s right hand: a sign of much more serious rot. The MAGA faction of the Texas GOP is in complete control. In addition to Cornyn, consider these two:

In the GOP March primary for Comptroller, incumbent Kelly Hancock was endorsed by Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. Still, he was steamrolled by former Dallas-area state senator and certified creep Don Huffines, whose defeat by the voters in 2018 was celebrated even by his fellow Republicans. Huffines now takes his considerable family fortune to the general election against Sarah Eckhardt, who is certain to remind voters that Huffines now owns the infamous Zorro Ranch in New Mexico, once owned and used by Jeffrey Epstein.

In the race for a seat on the Railroad Commission, incumbent commissioner Jim Wright (not that Jim Wright) was beaten by former Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French, who ran on a strong platform of Islamophobia, antisemitism and other assorted hatreds.

Why are Texas GOP voters choosing amoral chuds like Paxton, Huffines, and French over other, arguably more qualified candidates?

Nick Cataggio, a Texan who writes the Boiling Frogs column for The Dispatch, has this answer:

The truth is that Republican voters preferred Paxton because he’s a bad guy. Trumpism is a depraved anti-morality that treats sociopathy as a political virtue inasmuch as it’s defined by ruthless amoral determination in pursuing one’s interests. The challenger in this race fit that description to a T. The incumbent, a more dignified figure, plainly did not.

Greg Abbott and Dan Patrick fancy themselves the leaders of the Texas Republican Party, but deep in their shriveled souls they know a darker truth: the Texas GOP has become a mob, always seeking out the worst candidate. Abbott and Patrick know they dance on a razor’s edge: anything resembling leadership on their parts will be punished by the voters.

Does anyone think Don Huffines and Bo French just want to be middle managers in Texas state government?

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4. It’s Possible for Talarico to Win. But Difficult.

Every other spring, Texas Democrats’ fancies turn to thoughts of victory. Many of my Democratic friends see the Paxton-Talarico matchup as their best chance to break the 30-year curse on Democratic statewide officials. They may be right, but that does not mean it will be easy.

To start with: Texas is about a 53-54% Republican state. If GOP voters show up to the polls, their candidates will win, no matter how mediocre (looking at you, Greg Abbott) or corrupt (looking at you, Ken Paxton) they are.

But the political environment this fall may be challenging. Donald Trump’s approval rating in Texas is at 45%, down seven points over the last year. Last summer, the Texas GOP drew five new congressional seats they will have trouble winning. James Talarico wins a theoretical matchup with Paxton, 42-34%, in polling released last month by the Texas Politics Project. But these things have a way of tightening up, with bad results for Democrats.

The good news is ,this is about as good a matchup as Democrats could hope for. Talarico is a sincere Christian, a divinity student, and seems unafraid to preach the Gospel as he believes it. The Republicans don’t know how to combat that — hence the gratuitous slurs about his being transgender or, worse, vegan.

Meanwhile, Paxton is the most corrupt Texas politician of this generation. From stealing a colleague’s pen, to misleading investors, to getting accused of fraud and mismanagement by his own senior staff, to being impeached by the Republican-controlled House, to shady land deals, to multiple infidelities, Paxton has limboed under the already low bar of political rectitude in Texas.

And, as Cataggio points out, the MAGAfied GOP base loves him for it. The issue is, can Talarico cobble together enough Democrats, swing voters and disaffected Republicans to snatch victory from the jaws of de-rrook?

For the sake of Texas, I hope so.