Cornyn Attack Site Mocks Paxton Woes
as AG Rolls Out More Lawmaker Plugs
Capitol Inside
March 19, 2026
Attorney General Ken Paxton put his campaign's surging momentum on display on Thursday when he fielded endorsements for a U.S. Senate runoff from eight more state lawmakers while the incumbent he wants to oust touted a web site that mocks the personal tribulations that the challenger has brought on himself.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn countered the growing list of Texas legislators for Paxton with the unveiling of a new attack site on the Internet that his campaign dubbed Crooked Ken Magic Ball. The site gives viewers the opportunity to shake the magic ball for the answers to questions that it poses on subjects from Paxton's impeachment in the Texas House to criminal charges to an impending divorce with his wife - GOP State Senator Angela Paxton of McKinney.
The Texans for Senator John Cornyn site - as an example - includes the question "Should I ignore my own staff if they report corruption?" After clicking the link to shake the ball, the answer pops up. "Fire the whistleblowers," it says. The second question on the menu gets personal.. "Is it okay to cheat on my spouse?" The answer - like all of the others - is printed in all capital letters. "Yes ... just don't put it in the indictment."
Paxton appeared to get a game-changing break this week when President Donald Trump balked on an endorsement in the Texas Senate fight that he'd promised the day after the primary election when he was prepared to throw his formal support behind Cornyn. Trump said he would demand that the loser in the endorsement sweepstakes get out of the race immediately. After teasing the endorsement for two weeks, the president let a deadline for keeping candidates off the runoff ballot pass on Tuesday without making the call on a Texas Senate candidate that he'd vowed to make repeatedly.
While Cornyn led Paxton by 1.2 points with 41.9 percent of the first-round vote, the incumbent desperately needed the president's official support and the opponent's subsequent early exit that Trump said he would engineer after going public with the endorsement that has yet to materialize. Trump appeared poised to give his formal blessings to Cornyn the day after the primary vote. But Trump missed the chance to clear the path for the candidate he would choose. Trump backed off the threat after Paxton vowed to stay in the race regardless of the president's pick.
Paxton - a former Texas House and Senate member - announced today that State Senators Bob Hall of Edgewood and Donna Campbell of New Braunfels had rallied behind his bid for the federal post along with State Reps. Mark Dorazio of San Antonio, Richard Hayes of Plano, Janis Holt of Silsbee, Helen Kerwin of Glen Rose, Marc LaHood of San Antonio and Joanne Shofner of Nacogdoches.
The attorney general capped off the reinforcements list with official plugs from a handful of state House nominees for the Republicans - Cheryl Bean of Arlington, Scott Bowen of Houston, Tom Butler of Deer Park, Kristen Plaisance of Montgomery and Chris Spencer of Texarkana. Plaisance unseated State Rep. Cecil Bell Jr. of Magnolia in the March 3 primary election while Butler, Spencer, Bowen and Bean all won contested primaries in open races for the House.
Paxton already had 16 state representatives in his corner for the Senate bid before the new wave of endorsements today. But U.S. Senator John Cornyn has had the Republican Senate leaders on board for a re-election battle they say he must win for the GOP to hold the seat in a general election showdown with Democrat James Talarico in November.
more to come ...
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