A MAGA congressman accused Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) of secretly wanting the Trump-backed nominee who defeated him to lose in November — just so he can say, “I told you.”
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) made the accusation about the high-stakes Texas Senate race, which CNN analyst Aaron Black said has descended into “ugly infighting” over Republican nominee Ken Paxton’s surprisingly competitive race against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
“He goes to bed, he’s thinking, ‘I need Ken Paxton to lose, because then I can look into the cameras and tell the voters of Texas, I told you, he wasn’t electable,’” Nehls told the network.
Cornyn lost the bitter Republican primary battle to Paxton, the Lone Star State’s MAGA-aligned attorney general, after he won over President Donald Trump’s endorsement. While Cornyn has publicly said he supports the Republican ticket, he told CNN last week that he would not hit the campaign trail for Paxton.
Cornyn later delivered a brutal assessment of his former primary rival, whom he called “a poor campaigner” who is “lazy and doesn’t raise money.”
“And he basically is not offering a very compelling case for his election,” Cornyn added to CNN. “He’s making this harder than it needs to be. But so be it — we are where we are.”
The escalating tensions come as Republicans publicly pressure Trump to spend part of his massive political war chest helping Paxton in the traditionally ruby-red state that has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since the 1990s.
And the GOP has reason to panic, according to CNN.
Recent polls suggest Talarico is leading Paxton by several percentage points or running within the margin of error.