Ken Paxton Wins the Texas Primary, as Trump Makes Another Senate Gamble

WSJ Opinion: Potomac Watch

The Wall Street Journal

News, Society & Culture

4.2 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Republican voters resoundingly nominate Attorney General Ken Paxton, instead of incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, but can the AG win? Democrat James Talarico will try to make the race about Paxton's baggage, rather than his progressive views, and the GOP will have to spend money in Texas that it can't use elsewhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Nearly home.
0:02.2	Isn't home where we all want to be?
0:04.4	Reba here for Realtor.com, the pro's number one most trusted app.
0:09.1	A dream home isn't a dream home if it comes with a nightmare commute.
0:12.8	That's why realter.com has real commute, so you can search by drive time.
0:17.7	Download the realtor.com app today because you're nearly home. Make it real with
0:23.5	real with realtor.com. Pro's number one most trusted app based on August 2025 proprietary survey.
0:32.6	From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.
0:38.3	Ken Paxton resoundingly wins the GOP Senate nomination in Texas with President Trump's endorsement,
0:45.3	as defeated incumbent John Cornyn points to low turnout in Tuesday's runoff election.
0:50.3	How big a risk are Republicans taking by nominating Paxton, and could it even cost them Texas and the Senate?
0:57.7	Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal.
1:00.8	We're joined today by my colleague on the WSJ's opinion pages, Matt Contenetti, who writes for the free expression newsletter.
1:09.0	After a bruising and expensive primary in Texas, Attorney General Ken
1:12.8	Paxton emerged from Tuesday's runoff as the clear winner of the GOP's Senate nomination.
1:18.9	The vote, not quite two to one, but with about 64% of ballots in Paxton's favor, leaving
1:25.9	incumbent Senator John Cornyn with about 36%. Let's start with a piece
1:30.2	of the AG's victory speech on Tuesday night. And then there's one person who I think you might know,
1:36.6	President Donald J. Trump. When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn't listen.
1:53.0	Instead, he gave his complete and total endorsement.
1:57.0	President Trump is the leader of our party and his endorsement in this most power is the most powerful force in politics.
2:03.6	My opponent is the most extreme radical that Democrats have ever nominated.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 18 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Wall Street Journal, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Wall Street Journal and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.