Donald Trump endorsed Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate race in Texas one week before the primary.
Posted by Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov, Checked
- Sources
- 5 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 92%
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica TarlovSep 30, 2026
Multiple tier-1 sources (AP, Reuters) report that Trump endorsed Ken Paxton on May 19, 2026, one week before the May 26 Texas GOP Senate runoff, so the core claim holds. The claim's 'primary' is the runoff in the same contest, a label difference rather than a contradiction.
What was said
… and if our president could spell United States properly, which we will also get to, um, but I wanna start with the leaked audio heard across the world slash Twitter: uh Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee for Senate in Texas, long time Trump ally. Remember, Trump dipped into the race late, like a week to go, to endorse Paxton, but he had been holding it over John Cornyn's head, and we knew he was gonna go for, ah, the guy who was, ah, impeached by his own party and cheated on his wife really badly. …
Raging Moderates with Scott Galloway and Jessica Tarlov · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. AP reports that Trump endorsed Paxton on Tuesday in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, ahead of next week's runoff against Sen. Cornyn.[1]
Supports. Reuters reports the endorsement came 'a week before Paxton... and Cornyn compete in a runoff,' with the runoff set for May 26.[2]
Supports. NPR describes the endorsement as coming 'one week before voting ends in the contentious and expensive primary,' and NBC and CNBC also date it to May 19 with the May 26 runoff.[3][4][5]
Context. The endorsement was made in the GOP Senate runoff, not the March 3 primary itself; the post's 'a week to go' matches the runoff timing.[2][4]
Sources
5 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 2 tier 2, 1 not rated
- 1Trump endorses Paxton over Cornyn in Texas GOP Senate ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Trump backs hardliner Ken Paxton in critical Texas US ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 3Trump endorses Ken Paxton in Texas Senate primary runoffnpr.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 4Trump endorses Ken Paxton over Sen. John Cornyn ahead of ...nbcnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports, context
- 5Trump flexes endorsement power for Ken Paxton after ousting ...cnbc.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- President Trump hinted that he was about to endorse John Cornyn in the primary race in Texas.True
- Donald Trump endorsed Brandon Gill as the future of the Republican Party.Can’t tell
- Ken Paxton is the Republican U.S. Senate nominee for Texas.True
- Donald Trump has endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy for Governor of Ohio.True
- Ken Paxton stated that his polling numbers and the numbers of other Republicans dropped after the Trump-led GOP midterm convention in Dallas.True