Paxton to meet Thune, GOP Senate leaders in Washington this week

Yash Roy, Bloomberg News on May 31, 2026

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Ken Paxton, the Texas Republican Senate nominee, will visit Senate GOP leaders in Washington to ease their concerns about his viability in the most populous red state in the U.S.

Top Senate Republicans backed fellow Senator John Cornyn over Paxton, the state attorney general who settled a criminal securities-fraud charge and was impeached by the GOP-led Texas House. But President Donald Trump backed Paxton in the final days of the primary campaign, leading him to a decisive win over the six-term incumbent.

Paxton now faces Democrat James Talarico, who his party hopes to be the first Democratic senator from Texas in more than 30 years.

The state attorney general said on Fox News’ "Sunday Morning Futures" that he will meet with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Majority Whip John Barrasso; Tom Cotton, who leads the Republican Senate conference; and Tim Scott, head of the Senate’s GOP fundraising arm.

“I think they’ve all pledged their support,” Paxton said. “I think they understand how important Texas is.”

Spokespeople for the senators either weren’t available for comment on Sunday or said they had nothing to add to his comment.

The meetings come as national Republicans are trying to sort out how much more they will have to spend in the Texas Senate race. They expected Cornyn to win more easily than Paxton, whose wife also left him during his impeachment and accused him of infidelity.

Trump’s endorsement of Paxton put distance between the president and Senate Republicans, who worry Paxton might cost them a seat in a year in which Republicans are facing voter anxiety over the Iran war and the related rise in gasoline prices.

Paxton dismissed those worries and past allegations of impropriety.

“They say the same thing about Donald Trump,” Paxton said. “Accusations don’t mean that the thing actually happened.”

“They have to prove these things in our country, that they did not do with President Trump, and that they did not do with me, and yet they continue to act like something bad happened when they have no proof of it,” he said.

Paxton was impeached in 2023 over allegations that he accepted bribes, abused his office, provided false testimony to state investigators and obstructed justice. He was acquitted in the Senate.

Paxton said that he had spoken with Barrasso and Cotton since winning his primary. He is set to attend a fundraiser with Texas Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday.

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