Cornyn fights to hold Texas Senate seat in runoff with Trump-backed Paxton – US politics live

Ken Paxton, the state attorney general, takes on four-term incumbent John Cornyn on Tuesday in the ugliest primary election of the year. The winner of the Republican Senate runoff in Texas will contest November’s general election against Democrat James Talarico.

Paxton and Cornyn have spent months coveting the most valuable endorsement in Republican politics: Donald Trump. Last week, scandal-plagued Paxton got it, with the US president describing him as “a true Maga warrior”.

Supporters in McKinney, Texas, agree. “Paxton is more conservative,” said Jim Tubbesing, 77, strolling in Paxton’s home town, a tranquil vision of Americana with cute antique shops, trendy bistros and a walkable historic downtown exuding 19th-century charm.

“He has been good for Texas. I vote for the policy, not the fact that he’s alleged to have done something.” Tubbesing, calling Cornyn a “Rino: Republican in name only.”

The runoff is not fundamentally about policy, since Cornyn and Paxton would vote the same way on almost every piece of legislation. It is more about vibe and style, and has huge implications for Texas, control of the US Senate, and the future direction of the Republican party.

Cornyn, a former Texas attorney general and state supreme court justice, is widely seen as a last gasp of the Republican establishment. In a primary on 3 March, he narrowly beat Paxton, a far-right hardliner who has been impeached and indicted. But those aggressive stances on immigration and culture war issues appeal to the party’s base. But both men qualified for the runoff.