GOP rift grows over Cornyn’s Senate seat as Trump pressured to take sides

Republicans are growing anxious about an emerging Texas primary engulfing one of their longest-serving senators, fearful that a hugely expensive intraparty feud will have major ramifications across the map in next year’s midterms.

Republicans are growing anxious about an emerging Texas primary engulfing one of their longest-serving senators, fearful that a hugely expensive intraparty feud will have major ramifications across the map in next year’s midterms. And they want President Donald Trump to stop it. Behind the scenes, Senate GOP leaders have personally asked Trump to back Sen. John Cornyn, who has occupied his seat for more than two decades and narrowly lost his bid to become Senate majority leader last fall. But the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, is sending loud signals that he plans to enter the race, endearing himself to MAGA loyalists who want Trump to back the controversial firebrand. Adding to Cornyn’s challenges: Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt is now also making moves to enter the GOP primary and has privately contended to White House political advisers that he’s the only one who can win both a primary and a general election, according to a person involved in the discussion. All that has added up to one overriding fear: that a Texas Senate GOP primary could end up costing their party at least $100 million, siphoning money from other critical battlegrounds, according to several Senate GOP sources. Plus, they worry that a wounded GOP nominee could end up giving Democrats a chance in what would otherwise be a long-shot pickup opportunity as former Rep. Colin Allred weighs another Senate run.