US President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House, Washington DC, Oct. 15, 2026.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Thursday said Texas’ incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn and conservative commentator Karl Rove should be blamed if GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton loses to Democrat James Talarico in the Lone Star State.
Trump, who endorsed Paxton over Cornyn in the state’s Republican primary, accused the incumbent senator and Rove of “doing everything possible to make it hard” for Paxton to succeed in the race, where numerous polls show him trailing Talarico.
“If Ken Paxton loses, it will be because of WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Political Hacks like John Cornyn and Karl Rove, who have ineffectively opposed me for my entire political career,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Cornyn’s office and Rove did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment on Trump’s post.
Trump’s preemptive blame-casting came as Texas, a reliably red state that has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1988, has become one of the most competitive battlegrounds of the 2026 midterm cycle.
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