WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump — who has long seemed like he just can’t seem to choose among friends in the Texas Senate Republican primary — says he’s “pretty much” decided whom to endorse in the critical March 3 contest.
But as the showman president is wont to do, he left the public — and the candidates themselves — hanging, as he declined on Friday to name who he’ll actually support. Instead, during his remarks in Corpus Christi, Texas, Trump made sure to acknowledge each of the three Republicans fighting for the nomination.
“We have a great attorney general, Ken Paxton. Where’s Ken? Hi, Ken,” Trump said. He continued, “And we have a great senator, John Cornyn. Hi, John.”
Noting that they’re in a “little bit of a race,” Trump added: ‘It’s going to be an interesting one, right? They’re both great people.”
Trump mentioned the third candidate, Rep. Wesley Hunt, after running through the long list of Texas lawmakers present: “Another friend of mine who is doing very well, Wesley Hunt. Wesley Hunt, what a good job.”
During his visit Friday, which marked his first out-of-Washington trip since Tuesday’s State of the Union, Trump reiterated the highlights from that address about America’s economic prosperity and bolstered national security. He boasted of increased oil production and lowered gas prices at the Port of Corpus Christi while diverging into asides about GLP-1s, mockery of Democrats and unsubstantiated claims about voting.
Ahead of Trump’s visit, Energy Secretary Chris Wright authorized a 12% expansion in liquefied natural gas exports at Cheniere Energy’s Corpus Christi terminal — making it the second largest LNG export project in the U.S.
“We brought the country back. We don’t want to lose the midterm. We’ve got to win the midterms,” Trump implored the crowd, saying his tenure in office marked a return to the “golden age” for the U.S. “We’ve got to get out. You’ve got to get out, and we’ve got to vote. And we’ll keep it all going better even than it is now, as good as it is.”
As affordability and the economy remain top priorities for the broader electorate, Democrats are seizing on the cost of things like electricity, housing and food to attack Republicans for failing to adequately address voters’ concerns.
“As Donald Trump calls affordability a ‘fake word’ and ‘hoax’ and spends his time building gilded ballrooms, Texas families are seeing costs rise, health care get more expensive, and jobs disappear at one of the highest rates in the country,” Ken Martin, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said after Trump’s Corpus Christi remarks.
Cornyn is battling for his fifth term and is being challenged by Paxton and Hunt in a primary fight that has become viciously personal. All three men have been trying to highlight their ties to Trump as they ramp up their campaigning ahead of Tuesday’s vote. Cornyn got a head start on Friday, when he flew on Air Force One for the Texas trip and posted multiple photos of his ride on social media.
Trump’s hesitation to publicly wade into the Texas Senate primary speaks to the tricky dynamics of the race.
Cornyn is unpopular with a segment of Texas’ GOP base, in part for his early dismissiveness of Trump’s 2024 comeback campaign and for his role in authoring tougher restrictions on guns after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. But Senate GOP leadership and allied groups see Cornyn as the stronger general election candidate, in light of a series of troubles that have shadowed Paxton.
Paxtonbeat impeachment on fraud charges in 2023 and has faced allegations of marital infidelity by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have urged Trump to endorse Cornyn. They and allied campaign groups argue that the seat would cost the party hundreds of millions more to defend with Paxton as the candidate.
“It is a strong possibility we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee,” Scott told Fox News on Wednesday.
Hunt, a second-term Houston-area representative, was a late entry to the race, but claims a kinship with Trump, having endorsed him early in the 2024 race. Hunt campaigned regularly for Trump and earned a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
If no candidate reaches 50% in Tuesday’s primary, the top two finishers will advance to a May 26 runoff.
Cornyn’s campaign and a half-dozen allied groups have poured more than $63 million into the race since last fall, chiefly trying to slow Paxton but recently attacking Hunt in an effort to keep him from making it to the runoff.
The veteran senator has been airing ads since last year touting his support for Trump’s agenda, even though his relationship with the president has been cool at times. Paxton and Hunt both have ads airing now featuring them standing with Trump, who has repeatedly said he likes all three men and is friends with them.
The GOP battle comes as Democrats have a contested primary of their own in Texas between state Rep. James Talarico, a self-described policy wonk who regularly quotes the Bible, and progressive favorite U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
Trump hasn’t been shy about wading into other contested Republican primaries in the state. Parts of Corpus Christi fall within Texas’ 34th congressional district, where former Rep. Mayra Flores is fighting to reclaim her seat against the Trump-endorsed Eric Flores. (The two are not related.) The winner of the primary will face off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, long a target of the GOP, whose district was redrawn to make it easier for a Republican to win.
Eric Flores attended Friday’s Trump event at the Port of Corpus Christi, which technically is located in a neighboring district.
Elsewhere in the state, the president has also endorsed Rep. Tony Gonzales, who is fighting calls from his own party to resign from Congress after reports of an alleged affair with a former staffer who later died after she set herself on fire. Gonzales is refusing to step down and has said that there will be “opportunities for all of the details and facts to come out” and that the stories about the situation do not represent “all the facts.”
“Congressman Tony Gonzales is here,” Trump said, noting his presence at his Corpus Christi remarks. “Tony, congratulations.”
It was unclear what Trump was congratulating him for. Gonzales is facing a primary challenge from Brandon Herrera, a gun manufacturer and gun rights influencer, whom Gonzales defeated by fewer than 400 votes in their 2024 runoff.
After the speech, Trump made a stop by a local Whataburger, where he picked up food for Air Force One and insinuated to the gathered patrons that he would buy food for everyone in the restaurant. “Can you handle it? Hamburgers for all!” he announced.
___
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.