1 of 4 | President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, walk out of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026, to travel to the U.S. Capitol where he will deliver the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump just cant seem to choose among friends in the Texas Senate Republican primary .
So when he travels to the state on Friday for his first post- State of the Union trip, where he plans to promote his energy and economic policies, Trump will have all three candidates in the competitive race join him just days before his party casts ballots in the primary race.
Sen. John Cornyn is battling for his fifth term and is being challenged by state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt in a primary fight that has become viciously personal . And all three men, missing the coveted endorsement from Trump, have been trying to highlight their ties to him as they ramp up their campaigning ahead of Tuesdays vote.
For his part, Trump will be seeking to ride the message of his State of the Union address from Tuesday, where he declared a return to economic prosperity and a more secure America two centerpiece arguments for Republicans as they campaign to keep their congressional majorities this fall.
Trumps hesitation to endorse in the Texas Senate primary speaks to the tricky dynamics of the race.
Cornyn is unpopular with a segment of Texas GOP base, in part for his early dismissiveness of Trumps 2024 comeback campaign and for his role in authoring tougher restrictions on guns after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. But Senate GOP leadership and allied groups see Cornyn as the stronger general election candidate, in light of a series of troubles that have shadowed Paxton.
Paxton beat impeachment on fraud charges in 2023, and has faced allegations of marital infidelity by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have urged Trump to endorse Cornyn . They and allied campaign groups argue that the seat would cost the party hundreds of millions more to defend with Paxton as the candidate.
It is a strong possibility we cannot hold Texas if John Cornyn is not our nominee, Scott told Fox News on Wednesday.
Hunt, a second-term Houston-area representative , was a later entry to the race, but claims a kinship with Trump, having endorsed him early in the 2024 race. Hunt campaigned regularly for Trump and earned a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
If no candidate reaches 50% in Tuesdays primary, the top two finishers will advance to a May 26 runoff.
Cornyns campaign and a half-dozen allied groups have poured more than $63 million into the race since last fall, chiefly trying to slow Paxton but recently attacking Hunt in an effort to keep him from making it to the runoff.
Earlier this month, Trump feinted toward weighing in on the race when he said he was taking a serious look at endorsing in the Texas primary. He has since reaffirmed his neutrality.
Still, you wouldnt know it from watching TV in Texas. Cornyn has been airing ads since last year touting his support for Trumps agenda, even though his relationship with the president has been cool at times. Paxton and Hunt both have ads airing now featuring them standing with Trump.
I like all three of them, actually. Those are the toughest races. Theyve all supported me. Theyre all good. Youre supposed to pick one, so well see what happens. But I support all three, Trump said earlier this month.
The GOP battle comes as Democrats have a contested primary of their own in Texas between state Rep. James Talarico , a self-described policy wonk who regularly quotes the Bible, and progressive favorite U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett .
Trump hasnt been shy about wading into other contested Republican primaries in the state. Parts of Corpus Christi fall within Texas 34th congressional district, where former Rep. Mayra Flores is fighting to reclaim her seat against the Trump-endorsed Eric Flores. (The two are not related.) The winner of the primary will face off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, long a target of the GOP, whose district was redrawn to make it easier for a Republican to win.
Eric Flores will be at the Trump event at the Port of Corpus Christi, which technically is located in a neighboring district.
Elsewhere in the state, the president has also endorsed Rep. Tony Gonzales, who is fighting calls from his own party to resign from Congress after reports of an alleged affair with a former staffer who later died after she set herself on fire. Gonzales is refusing to step down and has said that there will be opportunities for all of the details and facts to come out and that the stories about the situation do not represent all the facts.
Gonzales is facing a primary challenge from Brandon Herrera, a gun manufacturer and gun rights influencer who Gonzales defeated by fewer than 400 votes in their 2024 runoff. The White House did not return a request for comment on Thursday on whether Trump stands by his endorsement of Gonzales.
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.
华盛顿（美联社）——在得克萨斯州参议院共和党初选中，唐纳德·特朗普总统似乎难以在盟友间做出抉择。
因此，当特朗普于周五前往该州进行其国情咨文演讲后的首次出行——此行旨在宣传其能源与经济政策时，他将让这场激烈角逐中的所有三位候选人与他同行，而此时距离其所在政党在初选中投票仅剩数日。
参议员约翰·科宁（John Cornyn）正为第五个任期奋力角逐，却在初选中遭遇得克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿（Ken Paxton）和众议员韦斯利·亨特（Wesley Hunt）的激烈挑战，这场竞争已演变成充满人身攻击的混战。由于未能获得特朗普的宝贵背书，三人近期加紧竞选活动时，都不约而同地强调自己与这位前总统的密切关系，以期在周二的投票前争取更多支持。
就特朗普而言，他将试图延续周二国情咨文演讲中的核心信息。他在演讲中宣称美国经济将重现繁荣、国家安全将更加稳固——这两大主张是共和党在今年秋季国会选举中捍卫多数党地位的关键竞选论点。
特朗普对得克萨斯州参议院初选候选人的犹豫表态，折射出这场选战的微妙态势。
科宁在得克萨斯州部分共和党基层中不受欢迎，部分原因是他早期对特朗普2024年竞选连任持轻视态度，以及他在2022年得州乌瓦尔德校园枪击案后推动更严格的枪支管制措施。但参议院共和党领导层及盟友团体认为，鉴于帕克斯顿近期陷入的一系列麻烦，科宁是更有可能赢得大选的候选人。
帕克斯顿于2023年成功摆脱了欺诈指控的弹劾，但其妻子、州参议员安吉拉·帕克斯顿（Angela Paxton）曾指控他存在婚内不忠行为。
参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩和全国共和党参议员委员会主席、南卡罗来纳州参议员蒂姆·斯科特已敦促特朗普支持科尔宁。他们及盟友竞选团体认为，若帕克斯顿成为候选人，该席位将使共和党多耗费数亿美元来捍卫。
斯科特周三在接受福克斯新闻采访时表示：“如果约翰·科宁（John Cornyn）不能成为我们的提名人，我们很可能无法保住德克萨斯州。”
亨特（Hunt）是来自休斯顿地区的连任众议员，虽较晚加入竞选，但自称与特朗普关系密切，并在2024年大选初期就公开支持他。亨特定期为特朗普助选，并因此在密尔沃基举行的共和党全国代表大会上获得了黄金时段的演讲席位。
若周二的初选中无人得票率超过50%，得票数最高的两名候选人将进入5月26日的决选。
自去年秋天以来，科宁（Cornyn）的竞选团队与六个盟友组织已向这场竞选投入逾6300万美元，初期主要试图牵制帕克斯顿（Paxton），但近期转而攻击亨特（Hunt），意图阻止其进入决选阶段。
本月早些时候，特朗普曾虚张声势地表示要介入这场竞选，称他正在“认真考虑”是否支持得克萨斯州初选的某位候选人。但此后他又重申了自己保持中立的态度。
然而，从德克萨斯州的电视节目中你或许察觉不到这一点。科宁（Cornyn）自去年起就开始播放广告，宣扬他对特朗普（Trump）议程的支持，尽管他与总统的关系时有冷淡。帕克斯顿（Paxton）和亨特（Hunt）目前也都在播放广告，展示他们与特朗普站在一起的画面。
特朗普本月早些时候表示："实际上，这三者我都喜欢。它们都是最激烈的竞争。他们都支持过我，都很优秀。按理说应该选一个，我们拭目以待吧。但我支持所有三位。"
就在共和党内部激战正酣之际，德克萨斯州民主党也展开了激烈的初选角逐——自诩为政策专家、常引用《圣经》的州众议员詹姆斯·塔拉里科，与进步派力捧的联邦众议员贾斯敏·克罗克特展开对决。
特朗普毫不避讳地介入该州其他竞争激烈的共和党初选。科珀斯克里斯蒂部分地区属于得克萨斯州第34国会选区，前众议员迈拉·弗洛雷斯正试图夺回自己的席位，而她的对手是特朗普支持的埃里克·弗洛雷斯（两人无亲属关系）。初选胜者将与民主党众议员维森特·冈萨雷斯对决——这位长期被共和党视为目标的议员，其选区经过重新划分后更有利于共和党候选人获胜。
埃里克·弗洛雷斯将出席在科珀斯克里斯蒂港举行的特朗普活动，严格来说该港口位于邻近选区。
在该州其他地区，总统还支持了众议员托尼·冈萨雷斯（Tony Gonzales）。此前有报道称，冈萨雷斯与一名前员工存在不正当关系，而该员工后来引火自焚身亡，因此他正面临党内要求其辞去国会职务的呼声。冈萨雷斯拒绝辞职，并表示“所有细节和事实都有机会公之于众”，目前关于此事的报道并未呈现“全部事实”。
冈萨雷斯正面临来自布兰登·埃雷拉的初选挑战。埃雷拉是一名枪支制造商兼持枪权倡导者，在2024年决选中以不足400票的差距败给冈萨雷斯。周四，白宫未就特朗普是否坚持对冈萨雷斯的背书作出回应。
博蒙特（Beaumont）从爱荷华州得梅因发回报道。美联社驻凤凰城记者乔纳森·J·库珀（Jonathan J. Cooper）对本报道亦有贡献。
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