It’s rare for President Donald Trump to sit out a political horse race. But his lack of an endorsement so far in the bitter Republican Senate primary in Texas has created ripples from the Lone Star State all the way up to Washington.
Polls have shown longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn trailing state Attorney General Ken Paxton in the March 3 primary, which also includes Houston-area Rep. Wesley Hunt. Despite pushes from Republican leadership and their fundraising arms to back Cornyn, Trump has resisted doing so with early voting already underway.
Cornyn’s opponents have welcomed the decision, but it’s created frustration back in D.C. for the senator’s supporters, who are now also staring down a May runoff election, with none of the candidates likely to get more than 50 percent of the vote next week.
