“You tell me how the President makes his decisions,” said Sen. John Cornyn when asked if he made the wrong calculation as he worked to win the Trump endorsement.
DALLAS — The Ken Paxton campaign wasted no time launching an ad playing up his coveted endorsement from President Donald Trump.
The ad released Wednesday, one day after the announcement, describes Paxton as “Trump-endorsed and Texas first.”
And Paxton delighted a crowd in Katy when he talked about it Wednesday night.
“Did ya’ll notice the endorsement yesterday?” he asked.
The reply was a loud, boisterous cheer.
The same day, four-term incumbent Sen. John Cornyn temporarily left the campaign trail.
His team said he was needed in Washington to vote on a bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol.
He’ll return to Texas for rallies in Houston and Corpus Christi Thursday and Friday.
While on Capitol Hill, a CNN correspondent asked Cornyn if he made the wrong calculation during his campaign, talking up his Trump ties.
“I think that’s pretty obvious it didn’t work,” Cornyn said. “But, you know, you tell me how the President makes his decision.”
Cornyn’s team also launched a new ad Wednesday attacking Paxton’s character.
The ad reiterates their claim that national Democrats are ready to spend significant money to try to defeat Paxton if he’s the Republican nominee in Texas.
At Paxton’s Katy rally, he reminded voters turnout will be key in Tuesday’s runoff.
But he is already talking about November, starting out the rally by trying to come up with nicknames for James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate who was in Dallas Wednesday.
“I feel it in my bones that we’re going to flip this Senate seat, take back Texas, take back our nation,” Talarico said.
But he did not take questions about the Trump endorsement.