'Republicans are on edge' over possible Trump MAGA endorsements: report
A decision by MAGA-friendly Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to challenge Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) for the seat he has held since 2002, has the GOP leadership concerned Donald Trump may stick his nose in that race and others.
According to a report from Politico, senior Republicans are publicly voicing their dismay over a possible internal civil war that could disrupt their election prospects if incumbents are forced to fend off Trump favorites in primaries, only to lose in the general election.
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In the case of the controversial Paxton, who has had a continuous ethical cloud over him, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), also a Trump ally, admitted, "The best thing would have been to keep Paxton out of the race."
Paxton's entry now has Republicans "on edge" that he will be the first of many to challenge the status quo with Trump acting like kingmaker.
According to Poltico's Jordain Carney, Ally Mutnick and Holly Otterbein, Paxton alone has become a "major headache for Republicans," before adding, "Senate Republican leaders are working to prevent a Trump-backed primary threat to Sen. Thom Tillis in North Carolina, home to one of the most competitive races next November. And Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, who voted to convict Trump following his impeachment in 2021’s riot at the Capitol, is facing a challenge from the right."
Noting that the Senate map in 2026 heavily favors the GOP, Republicans add they don't want to leave anything to chance with midterms rarely favoring the party in power.
Then there is the risk that a Trump-endorsed candidate could face-plant with voters as evidenced by the 2022 midterms when Mehmet Oz (PA), Blake Masters (AZ) and Herschel Walker (GA) all went down in flames vying for seats that seemed to be in reach.
According to Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), who recently headed the National Republican Senatorial Committee, "Look, you always have to take primaries seriously, always. What we tried to do at the NRSC last time is try to minimize that. But you’re always concerned about colleagues in a primary.”
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