Were you surprised at how badly Cornyn was defeated in Texas?

[kentuck]

Ken Paxton seemed to be known by everyone in America except for the voters in Texas. The number one rule for MAGA voters seems to be that their candidate has to be a sleazebag. If he is supported by Donald Trump, that is double good.

Democrats are celebrating in some corners because they believe Paxton will be easier to defeat. That is not necessarily the case. We are dealing with a cult. If the leader of that cult tells his followers to vote one way or the other, they trample on everyone and everything to get to the polls. I am hesitant to believe that Democrats can win in Texas. I will have to see it to believe it.

The few remaining establishment Republicans really liked John Cornyn but their stamp of approval held little sway over the cult Republicans. Trump is getting rid of them, one at a time. He wants a House and Senate that support him unanimously.

Paxton is like a mad dog. He has already launched a major negative campaign against Talarico. It will continue nonstop until November. Anytime the Democrats have a favorite candidate, the Republicans put all their focus on defeating that person. Talarico will be no different. The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.

[mahina]

1. I sure was.

Thought it would be close.

Ugh.

[B.See]

2. No. Again,

THEY'RE A CULT. Will leap from a cliff if maga jezus beckoned them.

Anyone expecting otherwise still doesn't get it.

[Buckeyeblue]

3. This run off only told us who was motivated to vote

A total of 1.38 millions voters participated. To contrast, a little over 11 million voters participated in the 2024 election.

So only about 10% of the amount of people voted last night compared to the last presidential election.

If we just count Republican voters, 6.3 million votes for Trump in 2024. So approximately 13% of Trump voters voted for Paxon. I would say Texas Republicans are not enthusiastic about the Senate race.

So we'll see what happens.

[Omnipresent]

4. Rightwing radio calls him a "RHINO",even though he votes with trump 90% of the time.

[hamsterjill]

5. Not at all.

This is what most people do not get about Texas.

[Wiz Imp]

6. Paxton will definitely be easier to defeat

The margin actually showed that trumps endorsement was meaningless. Paxton was going to win easily regardless. Turnout for the runoff was pitiful. It shows far more weakness for Paxton than strength

[dem4decades]

10. We once thought that about Trump. Fuck Texas.

[Wiz Imp]

11. Um, no.

[hamsterjill]

16. Paxton is not going to be easily defeated.

If you aren’t from Texas, you don’t get it. I don’t give a shit about margins, or polls, or whatever else works elsewhere.

MAGA is heavily entrenched in Texas and Paxton has a massive war chest. There are people in Texas who would never vote for a Democrat I don’t care HOW qualified that candidate might be.

Talarico came out swinging today and I am happy to see that. Because he’s going to need to show strength against the criminal to be taken seriously. I will be the happiest Texan that there is if Talarico wins. But we don’t need to start out this contest by thinking one was easier to beat than another. We need to acknowledge that beating either Paxton or Cornyn in Texas is going to take a miracle, and we need to remember that every single day until Talarico is sworn in. Take nothing for granted.

[BlueTsunami2018]

7. Not one bit.

The cult is still quite strong inside the wire. Piss can pick off anyone he wants.

[PSPS]

8. I wasn't.

What's left of the GOP voting base, the only eligible voters in the primary, is 100% maga. The only surprise was that it wasn't 100% for Paxton.

Paxton won't fare as well in the general election, where everyone can vote.

[Sneederbunk]

9. TSF's endorsement was no risk.

[Cosmocat]

12. A bit

I expected it, but not to that extent.

Just not good for our country that someone that out and out corrupt could blow Cornyn's doors of like that.

[Arthur_Frain]

13. It's Texas

Unlike many here, I’m not waiting on Texas to “flip”.

I know too many Texans.

I know too many ultra maga people (such as my brother) who would love to move there.

The idea that “decent people” are going to rise up and throw out the evil conservatives is a trope I’m tired of hearing. It’s happened exactly once in my politically aware life, and the very next cycle they put the same evil conservatives back in charge. Reelected them, they did.

I’m afraid this was a contest we were never going to win. Simply outnumbered by the evil, the, stupid, the ignorant and the gullible. Might be on the losing side, not convinced it’s the wrong side.

[Vinca]

14. No. It's Texas. But Cornyn became downright puke-worthy when he promised to support Paxton.

WTF is wrong with these people???????????????

[LetMyPeopleVote]

15. No

Texas primary turnout is normally low and the turnout for runoffs is even lower. The hardcore MAGA assholes turned out for this run off and that with trump's endorsement killed Cornyn

[pinkstarburst]

17. The only people voting in the repub runoff were maga

so it is no shocker that they would want Paxton.

We are never going to win over maga.

However, I believe Talarico can win by mobilizing all democrats (if we get off our butts and decide that this November we need to actually show up and vote, or else we have to shut up about our problems for another however many years.)

I also think he can get the votes of some moderate Hispanics who are not happy with how things are going with ICE and Trump. Paxton is a sleazebag and Talarico is a nice Christian guy. I think he can get some votes.

I think he can similarly pull some votes from independents in the middle who are not happy with the direction of things under Trump in general. I think this would have been much harder under Cornyn.

Make no mistake, if we win, it will be close. This is Texas. We need donations to every single one of the senate states where we are trying to pick up seats or retain seats (NC, GA, ME, TX, and a few I'm forgetting.) But I think this could be a year where it's possible.