Paxton vs. Talarico Trump's man wins in Texas - and promptly lashes out at "six-gender Jimmy"

The process shows how much power Trump has with the Republicans: Because he supports Ken Paxton in Texas, the 24-year incumbent senator is losing the race for the top job for the fall election. But Paxton's victory could prove costly for the president and his party.

John Cornyn has served as a senator from Texas in Washington for almost a quarter of a century, but his era has now come to an end. In his party's primary elections on May 26, 74-year-old challenger Ken Paxton, whom Donald Trump has endorsed, has been defeated.

Cornyn also declared his support for the president: He advertised to the end that he supported Trump's policies "99.3 percent". However, he described Trump as a man of the past before his second candidacy in 2023 - and Trump is vindictive.

Primaries in TexasA trio of Trump fans tear each other apart at the Republican Party - he thinks "everyone is good"

The president held back on an election endorsement for a long time: It was only a week before his party went to the polls that Trump opted for Paxton, despite the fact that he is burdened by a number of scandals. As Attorney General, for example, he had to face impeachment proceedings due to allegations of corruption and abuse of office.

Most expensive primary election in US history

Last year, his wife also left him and accused him of infidelity - after 38 years of marriage. A circumstance that has been repeatedly exposed in commercials for incumbent Cornyn - see below. According to the New York Times, the intra-party election campaign in Texas was the "most expensive primary in US history": Cornyn alone invested 80 million dollars.

It was no use: Cornyn only achieved 36.1 percent of voters on 26 May, while Paxton clearly prevailed with 63.9 percent: "The attorney general's victory is a crushing blow to the old guard of Texas Republicans," summarizes the Texas Tribune.

Paxton must now face the Democratic candidate in the midterm elections on November 3. In his victory speech yesterday in Plano, Texas, the Republican almost sounded like his political opponent: the 63-year-old spoke about affordability, debt and health insurance.

Paxton's nicknames for Talarico - a debacle

Above all, however, Paxton attacks his opponent: "James Talarico will be nothing more than a Texas-based stooge for Chuck Schumer and the federal Democrats," warns the lawyer. "He wants the open-borders policies of [Joe] Biden, the woke agenda of [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], he will spend trillions more and continue to raise prices on all of us. He must never be our senator."

For Paxton, his Christian opponent is the devil incarnate: "He's a threat to our way of life. I mean, he's a vegan who believes God is non-binary and that there are actually six biological sexes. It's hard to imagine anyone more radical."

The Democrats have never nominated anyone more extreme: "He's even running a vegan campaign, whatever that is," Paxton intones, imitating Trump by giving Talarico nicknames: He's been known as "Tofu Talarico", "Six-Sex Jimmy", "James Tala-Freak-o" or "Low-T Talarico". "Low T" stands for low testosterone.

Talarico: "If that's all they've got ..."

Looking ahead to the election campaign, one can only say: this could be fun! What does Talarico say about the personal attacks? "The only way for him to stay in power is through distraction and division," the 37-year-old countered on the left-wing channel "MS Now"."It's the oldest strategy in the world: divide and conquer."

Paxton is one of the "most corrupt politicians" in the country, who has even been targeted by his own party because of this. Instead of really looking after the interests of Texans, his opponent prefers to engage in "culture warfare" by taking Talarico's quotes out of context.

He is not even a vegan, he clarifies on the left-wing channel "MeidasTouch". "I'm an eighth generation Texan. I've been eating barbecue since before Paxton was first indicted," the Democrat shoots back. "If that's all they've got - that they're lying about me being a vegan - then I feel good about November."

Cornyn could be pissed - and turn on Trump

In fact, Paxton's victory could be even more costly for his party than it already is. With Cornyn, the campaign might have been easier: Incumbents win about 75 percent of the time, "Newsweek" knows. The chance of a change of power is therefore twice as high if the incumbent does not run.

In order for Texas not to fall to the Democrats after decades, the conservative PACs and super PACs will have to invest more money in the southern state that is lacking elsewhere. There is also the question of what Cornyn will do between now and the midterm elections: now that he has nothing to lose, he could oppose Trump in the Senate.

"If Cornyn loses, I imagine he'll be pissed off too," confirms Republican Texan Ted Cruz. "When you have a three-vote majority [in the Senate] and four or five Republican senators who are mad at the president, it's not easy."

Election race still open

"The former senator has never lost a race in his career," notes the Texas Tribune. Now he has been dealt the same fate as Bill Cassidy, who was not allowed to run as an incumbent senator in Louisiana shortly before because Trump supported his internal party rival. It is actually rare for incumbents to drop out in primaries.

Securing Paxton's senatorial seat could cost the Republicans up to 250 million dollars: "That's the internal price tag being traded among Republicans for the job," writes Time. The last Democrat to hold a senatorial post in Texas vacated his office in 1993: Talarico has a difficult task ahead of him.

It is not insurmountable: the race is currently even. Polls from April 22 and May 6 put both parties at 45 percent, reports "Newsweek". According to the prediction portal Polymarket, the Republicans have a slightly higher chance of winning with 53 percent than the Democrats with 47 percent.