President Donald Trump's endorsement in the Texas Senate runoff race was crucial for either opponent, and John Cornyn was not the lucky winner.
Cornyn, a long-time Republican politician, lost the endorsement and eventually the race to his opponent Ken Paxton, a major MAGA politician. Cornyn, who many Republicans consider a RINO, or a Republican in Name Only, ran on a campaign of having voted with Trump 99% of the time. However, that 1% was enough to lose him the endorsement.
Just seven years ago, Trump had endorsed Cornyn for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2019. Cornyn, at the time, had not always perfectly aligned with the president, having pushed back on border wall proposals, but he still received the endorsement.
Cornyn also was not the first to back the president when he was challenging the 2020 election results. Cornyn said he hadn't "seen anything that would change the outcome." He criticized Trump's handling of the January 6 riots and did not find himself on Trump's good side.
Paxton, on the other hand, gained the reputation of a strong MAGA Attorney General, despite his controversies in his personal and political life.
Once Paxton received the endorsement from the president, Cornyn was put in a bad position. Sweeping the former Senator by a huge margin, Paxton took the endorsement and the victory during the runoffs and will face Democratic nominee James Talarico in November.
