The Texas Senate nominee is not a departure from Trump. He is a copy. And the voters who chose him know exactly what they are buying.
On May 19, 2026, Donald Trump endorsed Ken Paxton for the United States Senate. One week later, Texas Republicans handed Paxton a runoff win over incumbent Senator John Cornyn by more than 25 points, even though Cornyn and his allies outspent him by roughly nine to one. On November 3, Paxton faces Democrat James Talarico for the seat.
Cornyn was no moderate. He voted with Trump on nearly everything that mattered. His problem was not ideology. His problem was that he was not enough like the man at the top. Paxton is. Put their records side by side and you do not see two politicians who happen to share a party. You see a father and a son.
I spent 35 years in the military, private industry, and the Intelligence Community. During that time, I held a TS-SCI security clearance, and I watched people lose theirs. The federal adjudication guidelines that decide who can be trusted with the nation’s secrets look at a short list of things: criminal conduct, dishonesty, financial misconduct, and personal behavior that leaves a person open to compromise or blackmail. Keep that list in mind. We are going to walk through it twice.
