If everything is bigger in Texas, President Donald Trump’s decision Friday to not endorse two high-profile Republicans on Friday ahead of Tuesday’s Senate primary vote amounted to a Lone Star-sized cliffhanger as the midterm elections heat up.
On one hand, the campaigner-in-chief opted against endorsing the more conservative candidate — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — amid warnings that a general election loss of a red seat could follow. But on the other, Trump also chose against endorsing Sen. John Cornyn, one of the chamber’s remaining deal-makers and winner of a number of statewide races. Earlier in his career, Cornyn also won races for a Texas Supreme Court seat and for state attorney general.
“Pretty much, yeah,” Trump replied when asked by a reporter at the Port of Corpus Christi if he had decided who he would endorse.
But when the same journalist asked if he would reveal that on Friday, the president said, “No. Not yet.”
Trump name-checked both candidates while on stage, continuing his coyness by saying “hi” to both and calling them “great.”
“They’re in a little race together,” he said of Cornyn and Paxton. “It’s going to be an interesting one, right?”
Trump had a third option, Rep. Wesley Hunt — but he trails Paxton and Cornyn in a recent University of Texas poll that puts the incumbent down 2 percentage points. Paxton leads that survey with 36 percent, with Cornyn next at 34 percent and Hunt at 26 percent.
Still, Hunt’s entry into the race all but assured a May 26 runoff, likely between Paxton and Cornyn. That makes it likely that the president is waiting for that one-on-one showdown to publicly embrace Paxton or Cornyn.
Trump did not endorse in the Senate race, but he did return to floating a try at a third term, asking the audience what they thought about the idea and contending he would, somehow, be “entitled to it” because Democrats “cheated like hell” in 2020. (No Democratic official has been charged with any wrongdoing.)
Trump also name-checked, as part of a laundry list of Republican lawmakers present, Rep. Tony Gonzales, who is embroiled in a scandal after reports that he’d had an affair with an aide who later died by suicide.
Trump also boasted about the oil tanker Searuby that was anchored in the waters behind him, a ship used to bring Venezuelan crude to the United States.
“We’re going to keep something for ourselves. We’re going to give some to them, and they’re going to make more money than they’ve ever made before,” Trump said, claiming the vessel had 360,000 barrels onboard.
But while his event was billed as an “energy event,” many wondered if it would give Trump a forum to offer an endorsement in the Senate primary.
Cornyn traveled to Texas with the president on Air Force One.
Senate GOP leadership and the fundraising arms have made several requests to Trump for a Cornyn endorsement, according to several people familiar with the outreach.
The president has been asked about a possible endorsement several times in recent months. Each time, he sidestepped the queries, a few times praising each Republican candidate in the hotly contested primary battle.
“They’ve all supported me. They’re all good, and you’re supposed to pick one, so we’ll see what happens. But I support all three,” Trump said last week of Paxton, Cornyn and Hunt.
On the Democratic side, Rep. Jasmine Crockett got a boost on Friday when former Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed her in that party’s primary against state Rep. James Talarico.
With Tuesday’s primary fast approaching, and Cornyn the clear favorite of the party’s establishment, some GOP officials have fretted about possibly flooding the Lone Star State on Cornyn’s behalf with cash that otherwise could be used in other districts and states.
The longtime senator knows a thing or two about raising campaign cash — he is a former head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. What’s more, Cornyn’s relationships built in that role and his stint as Senate GOP whip means he has support from many current and former senators, as well as party bigwigs.
“I’m supporting and have endorsed and am doing everything I can to help Sen. John Cornyn,” Thune said earlier this month. “He’s a very effective conservative senator for the state of Texas, and does a lot of good things for our country on so many issues.”
Trump ostensibly was in Texas to speak about his administration’s efforts to drive down energy costs and put more money in Americans’ pockets. “It’s happening,” he said of gasoline prices, a claim that some Democratic lawmakers and analysts have questioned with the national average per gallon at $2.98, according to American Automobile Association (AAA).
“No one has worked harder than John Cornyn and President Trump to reinvigorate our economy and lower costs for families, workers, and small businesses. By passing the Working Families Tax Cuts, President Trump and John Cornyn delivered the largest tax cut in American history and ensured that Texans are able to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks,” NRSC communications director Joanna Rodriguez said in a Friday statement.
Polls show most registered voters have grown deeply frustrated with Trump’s economy and his handling of affordability issues.
But the president mostly has dismissed those concerns, contending Democrats invented a term for a problem they created during Joe Biden’s presidency.
“Now the same people in this chamber who voted for those disasters suddenly used the word affordability, a word, they just used it,” Trump said Tuesday night during his State of the Union address, referring to Biden-era policies. “Somebody gave it to them, knowing full well that they caused and created the increased prices that all of our citizens had to endure.”
When some Democrats seated inside the House chamber audibly objected, Trump fired back: “You caused that problem. You caused that problem.
“They knew their statements were a lie. They knew it. They knew their statements were a dirty, rotten, lie,” he said as the annual event turned into another partisan spectacle. “Their policies created the high prices. Our policies are rapidly ending them. We are doing really well. Those prices are plummeting downward. The price of eggs is down 60 percent.”
As he departed the White House, the president said he has not yet made a “final decision” on possible Iran strikes. He also expressed frustration with Iranian officials who have been negotiating with administration officials.
And he told reporters ongoing talks with Cuban officials could lead to what he vaguely called a “friendly takeover” of the country.
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