Middleton, a conservative state senator and oil and gas executive, put more than $16 million of his own money into the race.
John Cornyn
Posted in
2026 Texas Elections
“The last of the gentlemen Republicans”: John Cornyn’s four-decade political career ends with a MAGA uprising
A former state Supreme Court justice, Texas attorney general and a four-term U.S. senator, Cornyn had held on in the Republican Party as it transformed from the party of Bush, to the Tea Party movement and eventually the dominion of Trump.
Posted in
2026 Texas Elections
Texas’ raucous primary runoffs end today. Here’s what to watch.
John Cornyn is trying to fend off Ken Paxton. Both parties are picking attorney general nominees. And an oil and gas regulatory race has become uncharacteristically costly.
Posted in
2026 Texas Elections
Rallies, ad blitzes and a Trump endorsement: inside the final days of the Cornyn-Paxton runoff
Nearly 14 months and $135 million later, Texas’ blockbuster Republican Senate primary will finally be decided Tuesday.
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State Government
Texas sues Discord, arguing online messaging platform endangered children, misled users
The lawsuit comes after a Galveston County family said their 13-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted by a person she interacted with on the platform.
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State Government
WhatsApp, Meta can access Texans’ private messages, AG Ken Paxton claims in lawsuit
The attorney general’s office argues WhatsApp and parent company Meta are deceiving users by claiming the companies can’t view their encrypted messages.
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Graphics and data reporting
Bigger price tag, smaller footprint: How Austin’s Project Connect went off the rails
Legal and political challenges continue to threaten Austin’s multibillion-dollar light rail project that voters approved in 2020.
Posted in
2026 Texas Elections
Texas’ GOP Senate runoff pits an old guard-backed institutionalist against a Trump-picked flamethrower
The GOP establishment has gone to bat for John Cornyn, touting the statesmanship and Washington know-how that make him a favorite of his colleagues and a pariah among Paxton’s base.
Posted in
2026 Texas Elections
Trump endorses Ken Paxton in Senate GOP runoff
The development, coming partway through early voting, is a searing blow for John Cornyn, who finished first in the March runoff but was unable to convince Trump to endorse him.
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2026 Texas Elections
Inside the child sex abuse case that resulted in Ken Paxton’s office offering a plea deal of just one day in jail
Critics are pointing to two other serious felony cases that the attorney general’s prosecutors took to trial that ended in mistrials and, eventually, plea deals.
