Republicans Cornyn and Paxton advance to Senate runoffs in Texas

DALLAS (AP) — The chaos in Texas may just be beginning.

Four-term Sen. John Cornyn and his allies spent nearly $70 million to survive the first round of the party’s nominating battle on Tuesday. He was slightly ahead of controversial conservative Ken Paxton, the state’s attorney general, as more votes continued to be counted on Wednesday.

Read more: Democrat James Tallarico wins the Texas Senate primary

Both now advance to runoff elections on May 26, which Republicans fear will be uglier and more expensive than the first round.

“It’s doomsday for Ken Paxton,” Cornyn said Tuesday evening.

But whether any level of attacks can stop Paxton — who has long been dogged by allegations of corruption and infidelity — remains unclear, especially as he portrays himself as the kind of “Make America Great Again” warrior that President Donald Trump needs in Washington.

Read more: What to watch in the subsequent Texas Senate primaries

Paxton was defiant as he spoke to a few hundred supporters in a Dallas hotel ballroom, a very different scene from Cornyn’s small news conference.

“We just sent a loud and clear message to Washington,” he said. “We will not go quietly, and we will not let you buy the seat.”

Republicans are sweating in the runoff as the 83-day race unfolds with activists in both major political parties acknowledging that Democrats have an unusually strong chance of winning a Senate seat in Texas this year, something that has not happened in nearly four decades.

Democrats nominated state Rep. James Talarico, who Republicans immediately attacked as a far-left extremist — though they privately view the 36-year-old progressive Christian as a stronger general election candidate than his primary challenger, Rep. Jasmine Crockett.

Read more: Texas Republican Sen. Cornyn is trying to retain his seat for a fifth term as Democrats take on Crockett and Tallarico

The race in Texas is taking place as Trump struggles to maintain control of Congress during his final two years in the White House. Republicans are more confident of maintaining their majority in the Senate than in the House, but a competitive race in Texas could scramble the map, or at least consume resources the party needs in more competitive states like North Carolina, Maine, Ohio and Alaska.

Republican leaders in Washington insist that Cornyn is the favorite, especially after he finished ahead of Paxton on Tuesday, with US Representative Wesley Hunt finishing third by a wide margin and losing. The Cornyn campaign argued that the runoff would not be necessary if not for Wesley Hunt’s “vanity campaigning.”

“Paxton’s problems are not just a problem in the GOP primary, they also threaten to jeopardize the Senate seat due to his lack of strength against Democratic nominee Tallarico,” a memo from Cornyn’s team said.

He watches: What’s at stake for Democrats and Republicans in the Texas Senate primary

But Paxton and his allies show no signs of backing down.

“The D.C. establishment has done its job: rallied around its wounded incumbent, turned on the fundraising spigot, and flooded the airwaves,” the pro-Paxton Lone Star political action committee wrote in a memo. “But the results, the data, and the reality on the ground all point to the same conclusion: John Cornyn has no viable path to the Republican nomination.” “Cornyn should suspend his campaign, cede the nomination to Ken Paxton, and refuse to allow another $100 million-plus of GOP resources to be burned in a race that is already decided.”

The only person who might be able to prevent intra-party conflict, or at least limit its repercussions, is Trump. But the president refused to endorse any candidates in the primaries, calling them all “greats,” and it was unclear whether anything would change in the runoff.

Without Trump’s support, Cornyn made it clear that he would raise the issue himself. He told reporters that Paxton would be a “heavyweight at the top of the Republican ticket” in November.

“I have worked for decades to build the Republican Party, here in Texas and nationally,” Cornyn said. “I refuse to allow a flawed, selfish and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton to risk everything we have worked so hard to build over these many years.”

Cornyn will face intense fundraising pressure, having already spent a lot of money in the first round of the primary. Aides said he had planned to do some small fundraisers, but did not do any in the days immediately following this week’s vote upon his return to Washington.

In addition, Paxton’s allies are confident that the political landscape will tilt in the attorney general’s favor.

“Regular and moderate Republican voters who are more likely to support an established establishment are less likely to return for a runoff,” the memo from Lone Star PAC said. “Committed conservative activists who make up Paxton’s base are the most likely to attend.”