President Donald Trump says he’s not ready yet to take sides in the combustible Republican Senate primary in right-leaning Texas.
“I just haven’t made a decision on that race yet,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday night as he returned to the nation’s capital from Florida. “I like all three of them.”
Trump, whose comments came on the eve of the start of early voting in Texas ahead of the March 3 primary, was referring to longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who’s seeking re-election, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and two-term Rep. Wesley Hunt, a West Point graduate who flew Apache helicopters during his Army service and who represents a solidly Republican district in the Houston area.
Paxton and Hunt are challenging Cornyn in the state’s high-profile and divisive nomination race.
“They’ve all supported me. They’re all good, and you’re supposed to pick one. So, we’ll see what happens, but I support all three,” Trump said.
CORNYN TORCHES DEMOCRATIC FIELD AS HE SEEKS RE-ELECTION IN TEXAS
Cornyn, who is backed by Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), has been highlighting his Trump credentials, telling Fox News Digital late last year, “I get along well with the president. I’ve supported him during his first term, and now in his second term — I think the figure we came up with was 99.3% of the time. So I want the president to be successful and look forward to continuing to support him and his policies.”
But Paxton, a MAGA firebrand and longtime Trump supporter, and Hunt, a rising star in the MAGA world, question Cornyn’s loyalty to Trump and depict him as a RINO, the acronym for “Republican in Name Only.”
EARLY VOTING UNDERWAY IN TEXAS PRIMARY
Meanwhile, the NRSC and establishment Republicans are raising concerns that if Paxton wins the primary, it could give Democrats a chance to flip the Senate seat in November’s general election, when the GOP will be defending its 53-47 majority in the chamber. They point to the slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered Paxton over the past decade, as well as the state attorney general’s ongoing messy divorce.
The primary race is competitive, with many public opinion polls suggesting Paxton and Cornyn battling it out with Hunt in third place.
Trump noted that the Senate GOP nomination battle in Texas has “got a ways to go.”
That’s because the Republican nomination is likely to head to a May 27 runoff, which would only be averted if one of the three contenders tops 50% of the vote in the March primary.
Trump’s latest thoughts on the Texas Republican Senate primary follow comments earlier this month when he told reporters he was “taking a serious look” at making an endorsement in the race, which he said would come soon.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas is also staying neutral in the GOP Senate primary.
“I know all these people. They’re all friends of mine, and I’m not going to be making any endorsements,” the longtime Republican governor told reporters after casting a ballot in early voting on Tuesday.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a progressive champion and vocal Trump critic, and state Rep. James Talarico, a former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian who, like Crockett, is also seen as a rising Democrat, are facing off for their party’s nomination.
Fox News’ Paige Dukeman contributed to this report
