Opinion | Cornyn , Paxton , Hunt : It a Republican Showdown in Texas

nytimes.com · Feb 26, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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There is little that is dull or small in the state of Texas, and certainly not its politics. Next week brings a high-stakes showdown in the Senate Republican primary, one worthy of the state’s long history of colorful political campaigns. John Cornyn, a Bush-era Republican, will try to hold onto his seat against challenges from Ken Paxton, the fiery, Trump-aligned state attorney general, and Wesley Hunt, a two-term congressman and a staunch supporter of the president. The result will signal the direction of the Republican Party in a state that has steadily become more conservative in recent years.Times Opinion assembled a panel of experts from Texas of various backgrounds and political views for a new installment of The Choice, aimed at guiding voters through the complex issues in this election. This is the first of several panels we will convene in a year of critical midterm races that will serve as a referendum on President Trump’s tenure in office. Texas may provide a clue as to whether far-right ideology has gained an intractable hold on red-state America, or if there are cracks the Democrats can exploit.The Choice was prepared by Times Opinion editors, based in part on a round-table conversation with the panelists held in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 11.Our Panel’s Ratings We asked panelists to rate the three leading candidates on a scale from 0 to 10, and averaged their scores. Times Opinion How do you rate the Trump administration’s handling of border security, and how will it resonate in Texas?James HensonGovernment professor in Austin The issue with border security in Texas right now is it’s a dog-catches-car situation. It’s perceived by a lot of people as kind of being solved. We dined out for a long time in terms of reporting our polling data by saying: If you wanted to unify Republicans, talk about border security, and you’d get 50, 60, 70 percent of Republicans agreeing with you.Now that border security seems to be solved, well, you’ve seen its salience decline. And when you break down the policy applications, it introduces a lot of divisions among Republicans that were not there when the focus was simply: We need to enforce the border.Brendan SteinhauserConsultant in Austin In Texas among Hispanic Republican voters, I think the president has lost some of those people because of the government’s tactics. They’re like: Wait, we were for this, not for that.Leah HaganConsultant in Houston Everything that I see from the Rio Grande Valley and those counties that were along the border, those Latinos are staying strong. They stand by Trump’s stance on the border on deportations.Artemio MunizLawyer in Houston When the administration first started out, there was stronger support. But now you’re seeing ICE guys shoot people and it becomes this chaotic thing. And polling reflects that. So the Republican Party has to make a decision: Are they going to understand this and find a way to scale it back, or are they just going to keep going full throttle?Kel SeligerFormer state senator from Amarillo There is very little disagreement about border security. It’s how you go about it. Having a militarized force — that for all the world looks like security forces in a banana republic — in a place like Minnesota is not the answer.Suzanne BellsnyderNews publisher in West Texas Everybody wants a secure border. So that’s not really where the conversation needs to be. Cornyn is probably the one that has the most pragmatic approach to all of it. The other two candidates seem to be more firebrand on that issue.Chad HastyRadio talk-show host in Lubbock None of these guys are going to come out and say ICE raids are bad, Trump is bad — they’re not going to do that. So for primary voters, it comes down to: Are these candidates going to support Trump?I think a lot of folks nationally still don’t understand that when it comes to what policies they like, what policies they disagree with, there’s not just one thought within the Hispanic community in Texas.For the general election, that’s where the big question is. But is that going to cause somebody to stay home and vote for the Democrat, who’s going to be branded open borders? Not likely.Times Opinion Which of the three candidates do you have confidence in to advocate for Texas on this issue in Washington?Leah HaganConsultant in Houston I think Ken Paxton is most aligned with President Trump on America-first policies. And when he gets into the Senate, that is going to be his main focus. And that national issue problem is a big issue for us Texans because we don’t look at it as us against Latinos. This is us against the world in a threat to national security.Christian CollinsFounder of Texas Youth Summit Ken Paxton has built a brand on securing the border. Because if you’re a member of Congress, you can talk, you can make speeches on C-SPAN. But Ken Paxton has actually sued the Obama administration. He’s sued the Biden administration on many issues. I would definitely say that he’s come across very, very tough on that issue.Artemio MunizLawyer in Houston It’s obvious all three support Trump. But I think that’s a glaring weakness of Paxton — that he sued on DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy. That’s going to be a big issue that the Democrats are going to bring up, and it’s going to be hard to defend.I’m worried about Texas staying red. And I’m worried about which Republican candidate will be the weakest when it comes to Talarico attacking and having national money behind him. I’m worried about what Paxton did on DACA.Morgan Cisneros EakinFormer chair of the Cameron County G.O.P. I first became a party chairman in the 2010s, and in the years I served in office and being active as a Republican grass-roots member on the border, Cornyn has been down there. In my experience, he always reached out to us.Ken Paxton’s visits to the area are essentially photo ops, in my view. That says a great deal.Our experience has been that people who are not actually present at the border have a habit of gaslighting us about what is actually occurring. Why would we expect any different from Attorney General Paxton?Wendy DavisFormer state senator from Fort Worth A lot of it depends on what is happening when we get to November, obviously. We all know that voters’ memories can be rather short, but I think the border is going to be a sustaining issue, particularly with Latino voters who have been profiled.Kel SeligerFormer state senator from Amarillo On checks and balances, Ken Paxton is going to do exactly what Donald Trump or the Republican leadership in Washington says.And while the Republican caucus has largely, if not exclusively, been pretty spineless in terms of assertion of the separation of powers, I think John Cornyn is our best hope.Ross HuntPollster and analyst in Dallas Cornyn is getting punished because people are trying to say he’s not as close to Trump, even though he has voted with him something like more than 90 percent of the time. But he has at times demonstrated an independence that would allow him some flexibility that does exist even inside the G.O.P. primary electorate.Chad HastyRadio talk-show host in Lubbock And that is where the debate is. We might see that degree of independence as an asset. But if you’re asking the voters: Do you want someone to be truly independent of Trump? A lot of the Republican red voters, that’s exactly what they don’t trust about John Cornyn.Christian CollinsFounder of Texas Youth Summit When you ask the question, who would most stand with President Trump on that issue in supporting ICE, supporting law enforcement, deporting the illegal immigrants that are here, I think you look at Ken Paxton or Wesley Hunt.Of those two people, Wesley probably has a little less baggage, but Ken Paxton has a track record of fighting on this issue for many, many years. I just don’t think that the Republican primary voter electorate is going to be with John Cornyn on this issue.Wendy DavisFormer state senator from Fort Worth As a Democrat, I see the world very differently than many of the Republicans here, but I think the grounding issue is — someone said it a minute ago — that the dog has kind of caught the car. For so long, Republicans in Texas were all down on the border doing their photo ops and creating the boogeyman for everyone to be afraid of. Fear has been very successful for them.They’ve now taken what had been a winning issue away from themselves.Democrats fear John Cornyn because he is a person who is seen as more policy-oriented, a person who is more reasonable. But I’m doubtful that he’s the one who’s actually going to make it through.Times Opinion Let’s turn to the issue of affordability and the Texas economy. Where does the economy stand and how do you see the candidates approaching it?James HensonGovernment professor in Austin If you look at the macroeconomic indicators, they’re getting better, but people are experiencing the economy in very different ways. They’re most concerned about everyday prices, health care prices and the price of housing.The economy applies a little bit less to the race we’re looking at, but it’s still going to be in the ether out there. Republican candidates are still going to be able to run on a healthy macroeconomy. But I do think they’re going to have to do some campaigning on affordability by the time we get to the general election.Ross HuntPollster and analyst in Dallas I think Paxton will fail to communicate on affordability. I don’t know if that’s necessarily a strategic mistake on his part. It’s not the differentiator that voters are looking for right now.Trump seems to have an instinct for knowing when to pivot back to things, but I don’t see Paxton doing that. And so I think in the fall that’s a potential liability.Kel SeligerFormer state senator from Amarillo That’s the problem. You can’t differentiate between the candidates. They all talk about what the problem is. But they don’t differentiate what the solut