HOUSTON—Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is facing a two-pronged attack.
On one side, there is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Cornyn’s top rival in the Republican Senate primary.
During a Feb. 19 rally in Magnolia, Texas, Paxton took aim at the incumbent.
Although Cornyn has touted a conservative record that is pro-President Donald Trump, Paxton questioned the senator’s accomplishments, challenging the audience to identify “one great accomplishment” from his decades in the Senate and other political roles.
On the other side, there is Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), who is also hitting the campaign trail hard, although he is lingering in third place in polling.
Outside a scholarship breakfast earlier the same day in Trinity, Texas, Hunt told The Epoch Times that he has made more than 40 stops across Texas in his bid to replace Cornyn in the Senate.
“The one thing that I continue to hear over and over again is the people of Texas are sick of career politicians,“ the second-term congressman said. ”It’s time for new blood.”
Paxton, like Hunt, is holding rallies across Texas, including in Tyler, Allen, and Richmond.
At the attorney general’s event, attendee Dawn Bednarz speculated that Hunt was in the race as a spoiler to undermine the attorney general.
Yet Hunt, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who deployed to Iraq, sounded more like one side of a pincer movement against Cornyn.
When asked who he might endorse in any runoff if he were to finish third, he said: “I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I think I’m going to be in the runoff myself.”
“I certainly would not be endorsing John Cornyn,” Hunt said.
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), a Republican running in the 2026 Senate primary, takes part in the Trinity County Sheriff's Office scholarship breakfast event in Trinity, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)
The two Republicans are not the only contenders who trooped through Texas the week of Feb. 17, when early voting began in the state’s primaries.
Cornyn’s events included a stop in Austin on Feb. 17, one of many on his itinerary while the Senate is out of session.
There, he and a key surrogate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, defended his record on the border and other issues.
Even as Paxton, Hunt, and other Cornyn critics say the senator has been in Washington too long, Perry said Cornyn’s seniority gives him access to the White House, Senate leadership, and other key players in ways that benefit his home state.
“John Cornyn has been good for Texas for decades,” Perry said, describing him as “a man of impeccable character.”
Cornyn also criticized the two Republicans who are directing much of their fire at him. He dismissed Hunt’s effort as “a vanity campaign” and said a Paxton nomination would jeopardize other Republican candidates up and down the ticket.
Although Paxton and others have questioned the senator’s past work on gun control legislation, specifically a 2022 gun control bill, Cornyn’s team has highlighted how he succeeded in eliminating some firearm and suppressor taxes through last summer’s reconciliation package, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who hopes to secure the Democratic nomination, drew a massive crowd to his own Austin rally on Feb. 17. His “Take Back Texas Tour,” set to intensify ahead of March 3, included a Feb. 21 gathering in El Paso.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Talarico’s opponent in the Democratic contest, has spoken at events in Dallas, Fort Worth, and other places.
The House and Senate have both been out of session since Presidents Day, Feb. 16.
Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat running for the Senate, speaks at a rally in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 17, 2026, the first day of early voting in Texas's primaries. (Nathan Worcester/The Epoch Times)
A Small Town Breakfast
Hunt made his morning remarks at the Trinity Community Center.
He and some local candidates had come for a sheriff’s office breakfast sponsoring scholarships for trade schools.
Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace was among the local lawmen cooking food beforehand.
“We’ve got a lot of kids here who want to go on and do better things with their lives,” he told The Epoch Times as eggs and hash browns sizzled nearby.
He said he had only recently learned about Hunt.
“I like his Christian values,” Wallace said. “I love the fact that he comes to a little place like this.”
Trinity County is home to fewer than 15,000 people—a place that matters to those who live there, but a drop in the bucket in a state with almost 32 million inhabitants.
Wallace said he thinks that Cornyn, Paxton, and Hunt are all “pretty good people.”
People take part in the Trinity County Sheriff's Office scholarship breakfast event in Trinity, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)
Food is prepared at a law enforcement scholarship breakfast where Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) spoke while campaigning in the Texas Senate primary in Trinity, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)
The candidates are wrapped up in a vicious and expensive campaign.
AdImpact estimated that it had become the second-costliest Senate primary ever, with almost $100 million in spending on advertisements and reservations by Feb. 17. More than half of that was backing Cornyn.
Hunt, who has received $10.8 million in ad support, questioned heavy spending on Cornyn linked to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Senate Leadership Fund.
“They’re trying to throw good money at bad money,” he said.
Hunt said that the decision to continue funding Cornyn even as Trump has withheld an endorsement in the race is “the definition of insanity.”
Rhonda Ward, a Republican running for the state Senate, told The Epoch Times that she was glad to see the intense competition in her party, denying that it would discourage voters in the general election.
“We slug it out at this time of the year, but on March 3, we will have our Republican candidate, and we will rally behind our Republican candidate,” she said. “Everybody’s applying for the job.”
Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas), a Republican running in the 2026 Senate primary, takes part in a Trinity County Sheriff's Office scholarship breakfast event in Trinity, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)
Bill Baptiste, an attendee of the breakfast, is one of the Texans who will vote to help decide who gets hired.
“He’s horrible,” Baptiste said of Cornyn.
He said he is leaning toward Hunt over Paxton, although he likes both. Baptiste said he sees the congressman as “fresh blood.”
Paxton has served as Texas’s attorney general since 2015 and was in the Texas House for more than a decade before that.
A Political Bar and Grill
Paxton’s evening rally took place at Magnolia’s The Angry Elephant, part of a chain of Republican-friendly restaurants in the Lone Star State.
Menu items ranged from the Ronald Reagan Burger (“Our favorite president ... Our favorite burger”) to the Beto O’Rourke Mexico Dog (“While it’s 100% made in the USA, we are going to call it Mexican anyway”).
Many of the men and women there were convinced Paxton supporters.
John Groh attends an event for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton during the Texas Senate primary in Magnolia, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)
David Lanoue takes part in an event in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton during the Texas Senate primary in Magnolia, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)
“John Cornyn’s not in consideration, and I think [Paxton’s] far better than Wesley Hunt, so, easy math,” David Lanoue told The Epoch Times.
John Groh, another patron of The Angry Elephant, told The Epoch Times that he has “been a fan of Ken Paxton for many years now.”
He speculated that Paxton could eventually become governor—and he said he believes that Cornyn has betrayed the president, although he did not offer any specifics.
Like some other Texans who spoke with The Epoch Times, he said he sees Cornyn’s long stint in office as a mark against him.
None of the rallygoers mentioned Paxton’s 2023 impeachment in the state House, which Paxton’s critics say could hurt the attorney general if he is the nominee in November.
At his Austin event with Perry, Cornyn said, “If Ken Paxton is at the top of the ticket, we risk losing the Senate seat, losing the majority in the House of Representatives, and it will take a toll on everybody on the ballot.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at an event with his supporters during the Texas Senate primary in Magnolia, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)
When reporters asked him about his impeachment proceedings, Paxton compared his experience to that of Trump, who was impeached twice during his first term.
“Look where he’s at,” Paxton said of Trump, who was reelected in 2024.
Not everyone who walked into The Angry Elephant came in as a Paxton backer.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at an event with his supporters during the Texas Senate primary in Magnolia, Texas, on Feb. 19, 2026. (Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times)
Rosalie Barley told The Epoch Times before the speech that she was undecided but leaning toward the attorney general.
After his speech, she said he had fully won her over.
“We need people in there who are willing to do the work,” Barley said.
