As previously reported by AFN, Texas incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn is fighting for his political life, locked in a three-way primary race with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt. On the Democrat side, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is in a tight primary battle with state Rep. James Talarico, who is being touted as a rising star among Texas Democrats.
Tom Pauken served on Ronald Reagan's White House staff and later became chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. He tells AFN what he hopes will happen in the Democrat primary.
"My hope is that Crockett wins the nomination because I think she is so crazy that anybody on the Republican side, even with baggage, could defeat her in November," says Pauken.
However, he fears that Talarico is going to win the primary.
"There's a heavy Hispanic vote in the Democratic Party. He's working that really hard. He's got a tremendous amount of money, so I think he's a real threat,” states Pauken. “I worry about him — that he could win. I think he's a really bad guy, but he is the favorite son of the Liberals."
To that point, he thinks that Republicans should be concerned.
"There could be a vote against Republicans in November because we're losing some ground here in the state. The fact that we may have a weak candidate in the general election could make this a toss-up Senate seat if he wins the primary," informs Pauken.
Head-to-head general election poll compilations from 270 to Win show all three Republicans (top right: Paxton, Cornyn, Hunt) with narrow leads over both Crockett and Talarico.
On Jan. 31, a Texas Democrat defeated a Republican in a state Senate district that Trump carried by 17 points in 2024, but Democrats have not won statewide office in Texas in more than three decades and have never come within nine points of defeating Cornyn.
