Mary Ellen Klas, Columnist

To Beat Paxton, Cornyn Is Relying on a MAGA Makeover

The Texas Senator is morphing from statesman to sycophant as he tries to hold off a primary challenge from the state attorney general.

August 14, 2025 at 10:00 AM UTC

By Mary Ellen Klas

Mary Ellen Klas is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former capital bureau chief for the Miami Herald, she has covered politics and government for more than three decades.

Putting on the MAGA mask.
Photographer: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

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The Senate primary in Texas has turned another well-respected establishment Republican into a MAGA culture warrior who has traded civility for theater: Senator John Cornyn. The four-term Texas veteran is in a fight for his political life as he struggles in the polls against scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The battle promises to become one of the most expensive in state history, part of an ongoing civil war between veteran Republicans and the new breed of pugilistic partisans. Inspired by President Donald Trump, flame-throwers like Paxton are winning popular support — despite their disregard for certain Constitutional restraints — by promoting simplistic policy solutions to angry, low-trust Americans.