by Charlotte Hazard
Incumbent Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn holds a single-digit lead over primary challenger Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, while the Democrats are split between potential candidates Rep. Jasmine Crockett and former Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke, according to a new poll.
Thirty-five percent of registered Republican voters said they would support Cornyn in the primary while 26% said they would support Paxton, according to a poll conducted by Texas Public Opinion Research. Twenty-nine percent of GOP voters said they weren’t sure who they would support.
The poll also showed that in a hypothetical Senate primary, 27% of Democratic voters would support O’Rourke and 26% said they would support Crockett.
The Democrats have officially announced their bid for Cornyn’s seat – former Rep. Colin Allred and state Rep. James Talarico.
The poll was conducted between August 27–29 and surveyed 843 registered voters. The margin of error is +/-4.6 percentage points.
Whoever wins this Texas GOP primary race between Cornyn and Paxton is most likely to win the Texas Senate race. Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analyzer company, rates the Texas Senate race as likely a Republican seat.
According to Punch Bowl News, the Senate Leadership Fund estimated in August that it would cost between $25 million and $70 million to help Coryn win this primary; however, the super PAC also stated it would have to spend between $200 million to $250 million to help Paxton win in a general election.
The last time Texas had a Democratic senator was in 1993.
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Charlotte Hazard is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Photo “Ken Paxton” by Ken Paxton. Photo “John Cornyn” by John Cornyn.
Cornyn has shown that he is less than a stellar representative of Texans. The guy needs to go. Paxton would make a much better senator. Of course Paxton dealing with an incumbent with name recognition and a war chest.