Corruption / Ethics
John Cornyn (R)
Cornyn voted to certify Joe Biden's 2020 Electoral College victory on January 6, 2021, declining to join the House Republican objectors and publicly calling the Capitol attack 'shameful.' He voted to acquit Trump in both impeachments while criticizing the conduct in each case. He has co-sponsored the Sunshine in the Courtroom Act for federal court transparency and has historically supported FARA reform, PAC disclosure modernization, and STOCK Act enforcement. He has opposed the most aggressive congressional-stock-trading-ban proposals on First Amendment grounds while supporting tighter timely-disclosure requirements. As a former Texas Supreme Court Justice and former Texas Attorney General, his decades-long professional record carries no pending misconduct charges and no impeachment — the cleanest institutional record any current Texas Republican senator could bring to this primary.
Ken Paxton (R)
Paxton was impeached by the Texas House on bribery and abuse-of-office charges in May 2023 (121-23) and acquitted by the Texas Senate in September 2023. He settled a nine-year state securities fraud case in 2024 by paying ~$300K in restitution with no admission of guilt, and the DOJ declined to prosecute him federally in early 2025. A May 2026 Texas Tribune/ProPublica investigation identified at least 30 AG cases filed in counties with tenuous connection to the alleged wrongdoing — forum-shopping that Paxton himself had previously denounced in 2017. Tribune reporting (May 2026) detailed a one-day-in-jail plea deal his office offered in a Waco child sex abuse case. His Senate campaign frames all of this as 'politically motivated witch hunts' and promises to 'drain the Swamp.'
Sources
- Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, official campaign issues page, accessed May 2026. (full list)
- Sen. John Cornyn, official Senate website and 2026 re-election campaign issues page, accessed May 2026 (cornyn.senate.gov; johncornyn.com). (full list)
- Patrick Svitek, 'Ken Paxton emerges victorious from yet another career scandal,' Texas Tribune, Sept. 17, 2023. (full list)
- Texas Tribune / ProPublica, 'Paxton files lawsuits in courts that could have more favorable outcomes,' May 20, 2026. (full list)
- Neena Satija et al., 'Inside the child sex abuse case that resulted in Ken Paxton's office offering a plea deal of just one day in jail,' Texas Tribune, May 19, 2026. (full list)
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 'Ken Paxton,' updated May 2026 (impeachment, securities settlement, AG litigation history). (full list)
- Cornyn as senior Senate Judiciary Committee Republican (2015-present); record on confirmations of Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Jackson; Cornyn-Coons Sunshine in the Courtroom Act. (full list)
- Senate Republican Whip (2013-2019); 2024 Senate Republican Leader race vs. Sen. John Thune (Cornyn lost 29-23); Republican Conference institutional record; New York Times coverage of Cornyn-Thune-Scott three-way race, November 2024. (full list)