WASHINGTON — When Texas Republicans choose their Senate nominee this spring, they won’t just be picking their preferred next senator — they’ll be the name to lead a ticket that includes GOP candidates up and down the ballot.
Sen. John Cornyn, Attorney General Ken Paxton or Rep. Wesley Hunt’s position atop the ballot will shape who turns out in November, with significant implications for Texas Republicans running for federal, state and local offices. Those candidates will be confronting a fired-up Democratic electorate that helped power the party’s shocking and decisive victory in last month’s state Senate special election in bellwether Tarrant County, along with the challenge of drawing voters to the polls without President Donald Trump’s name on the ballot.
In the wake of the Democratic upset in North Texas, the question of down-ballot success has been top of mind for Republican political operatives. The Cornyn and Paxton camps have each seized on the result to make their opposing pitches for why they would be best equipped to stave off a similar outcome nine months from now, refocusing the Senate primary on the question of electability in the final weeks.
