Mayes Middleton Defeats Chip Roy in the Runoff for Texas Attorney General
After connecting his opponent to past criticism of President Trump, the conservative state senator now advances to the general election.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's gushing comments about Trump have an ex-prosecutor sounding the alarm and suggesting it could land Blanche in legal trouble.In early April, Blanche said he would tell Trump, "Thank you very much. I love you, sir," if the president passed him over for the permanent AG role and kicked him out of the White House.Glenn Kirschner, a former prosecutor, said on the Jim Acosta Show on Tuesday that those comments could be a problem for Blanche. "From this old prosecutor's perspective, he'll need to be criminally investigated beginning in January of 2029," Kirschner said, referring to when Trump's term is supposed to end. "The minute I heard him say ... 'Thank you, sir. I love you.' You can't make that up. And why would any self-respecting government official say that?"Along with the ongoing case against former FBI Director James Comey, Kirschner sees plenty of evidence that Blanche "was willing to do anything and everything to try and keep his job," he said. Kirschner said Blanche is aggressively "abusing the rule of law and the constitutional rights of targets of Donald Trump's wrath." Kirschner then pointed to the Richard Nixon administration and the criminal conviction of four dozen of his officials and associates. "I'll bet they all felt untouchable. I'll bet they felt like, 'No way the rule of law is coming for us,'" Kirschner said. "What happened? Forty-eight of them were criminally convicted, and thirty of them went to prison. This is what awaits, I believe, Todd Blanche and the rest of Trump's cabinet."
After connecting his opponent to past criticism of President Trump, the conservative state senator now advances to the general election.
Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general, overcame scandals and a significant fund-raising disadvantage to win. His victory sets up the general-election clash that Democrats had hoped for.
President Donald Trump's disgraced former attorney general, Pam Bondi, is coming back to the Trump administration — only this time, she's working in a very different role.According to Axios, "Bondi, whom Trump ousted as AG last month, will be on the Presidential Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). The panel is chaired by former White House AI adviser David Sacks and White House science adviser Michael Kratsios. It also includes more than a dozen tech executives, including Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison."Per the report, Bondi's role on the panel will be to mediate between the White House and the tech billionaires serving on it.Announcing the move, Vice President JD Vance proclaimed, "Pam has been an enormously valuable asset to the president's team, and I'm thrilled for her and for all of us that she's going to remain involved in confronting some of the most important issues the administration faces."This comes despite the fact that Bondi was unceremoniously fired by Trump earlier this year.Sources at the time indicated Trump had a long list of frustrations with Bondi, including her failure to manage the public furor over the Jeffrey Epstein trafficking case files, and the fact that under her watch, several politically-motivated prosecutions of Trump's enemies ended in failure and sometimes even the removal of prosecutors.
Some Republicans fretting about the upcoming midterms on social media could not seem to squeeze into a comfortable position Tuesday night after incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) lost his seat to Republican challenger Ken Paxton.MAGA faithful delighted in the news, with right-wing pundits like Nick Sorter crowing victory Tuesday night after results rolled in.“HEY THUNE: Texas is sending a MESSAGE to you. You could’ve avoided this ENTIRE PRIMARY and KEPT John Cornyn if you would’ve just passed the SAVE America Act,” Sorter said on X. “You snubbed us, thinking you could just BUY elections. YOU WERE WRONG. Voters are REBUKING you.”“The day of the RINO is over and the RINO's who are still in the Senate better take notice,” yowled MAGA influencer Bill Mitchell on X.“Go against President Trump and his America First agenda at your own peril,” said another. “The old Republican Party is dead. The voters are fully behind Trump, and opposing him is now a career-ender. Just ask John Cornyn, Liz Cheney, Mitt Romney, Adam Kinzinger, and the rest of the never Trump losers who got primaried, booed off stage, or exiled into political oblivion.”“Paxton will face Democrat James Talarico in November, win that election, and begin representing Texas come January in the senate,” said right-wing radio host Clay Travis on X. But other, less jingoistic conservatives appeared to twitch their fingers at the news.“Dems will be happy to get Paxton with all his baggage,” said former Fox News sportswriter Robert Lusetich under Travis’ X post.“Paxton will win easily after Democrats spend over $100 million convincing themselves Talarico has a chance,” Travis posted directly beneath Lusetich — but Lusetich was unconvinced.“But think of the ads that $100m buys, Clay! 2023 impeachment by his own party in the Texas House + long-running securities fraud indictments + federal whistle-blower investigations + Trump lackey,” insisted Lusetich. “Key though is 15-20 percent of GOP in Texas are Bush Republicans & they're staying home.”Talarico himself was already courting bitter Cornyn voters on the night of his defeat, announcing on X: “I want to thank Senator John Cornyn for his years representing our state. We don’t agree on everything, but we both still believe in public service. To Senator Cornyn’s supporters: you have a place in our campaign.”Dem strategists and influencers, meanwhile, were already out in force and thrilled with the news, with one declaring on X: “Congrats Ken Paxton for handing the Senate to Democrats in 2026.Another X Dem suggested: “Dems need to just run clips of Paxton being insane over and over and over again.”
Alex Mealer, a Trump-endorsed Army combat veteran and energy executive, defeated state Rep. Briscoe Cain in a Houston-based congressional runoff election.
John Cornyn was a loyal Republican soldier. There’s no disputing that Cornyn’s voting record was almost perfectly aligned with Trump. Ken Paxton’s lopsided victory captured an important reality of the GOP in 2026, too: That’s not enough.
CNN election guru John King was stunned on Tuesday after the Texas Senate primary race showed how much President Donald Trump's grip on the Republican Party had grown. Scandal-plagued Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) resoundingly in the runoff elections, with CNN and the Wall Street Journal calling the race for Paxton just after polls closed at 9 p.m. ET. Paxton will face Democratic Texas state lawmaker James Talarico in the November election. King told CNN's Kaitlan Collins during a segment on "The Source" that Paxton's margin of victory showed just how strong Trump's grip over the Republican Party is, even though he remains underwater in national polls. "President Trump is incredibly weak nationally right now; his national poll numbers are down. He's underwater," King said. "The Iran war is unpopular. Gas prices are up. However, the president has shown yet again in Texas his power over the Republican base."King pointed to rural north Texas, where he said Trump would carry the small counties by between 80% and 90% of the vote. During the primary, Cornyn made a strong showing in that part of Texas. But just three months and one Trump endorsement later, it was like Cornyn had never been to that part of the state. "The numbers are impressive for Mr. Paxton tonight," King said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won the state’s Republican Senate runoff, defeating four-term incumbent John Cornyn and setting up a November showdown with a well-funded Democrat, James Talarico.