Tillis Calls Trump’s Paxton Endorsement a “Colossal Mistake”

Republican infighting has returned to the Texas Senate race with Senator Thom Tillis accusing current President Donald J. Trump of making a “colossal mistake” by backing Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn in the Republican contest. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union on September 27, Tillis argued that Trump’s intervention helped turn what might have been a relatively comfortable Republican defence into a contest requiring enormous political and financial attention.

Tillis Says Trump Turned a Republican Primary Into an Expensive Headache

Tillis did not exactly wrap his criticism in diplomatic paper. He said Trump’s decision to support Paxton rather than Cornyn was an “unforced error” and argued that Republicans would not have needed to contemplate spending “tens or hundreds of millions” of dollars in Texas if Cornyn had won the nomination. His comments came after Paxton defeated Cornyn in the May Republican runoff following Trump’s endorsement of the Texas attorney general.

The political comedy, at least from the sidelines, is that the Republican family appears to have discovered that choosing one relative for Thanksgiving can sometimes make the other relative spend the entire evening explaining why the invitation was cancelled. Trump had portrayed Cornyn as insufficiently loyal, while Paxton became the president’s preferred candidate. CNN reported that Trump’s endorsement was a significant factor in a contest that had already exposed divisions inside the Republican Party.

Paxton’s General Election Now Carries the Baggage of the Primary Fight

Paxton now faces Democratic nominee James Talarico in the November 3 general election. The race has attracted national attention because Republicans are defending a seat that Cornyn had held since 2002, while Democrats see the contest as an opportunity to compete seriously in a state where statewide Republican candidates have dominated for decades. Reuters reported after Paxton’s primary victory that Republican campaign resources could face competing demands as the party prepares for the wider 2026 midterms.

Paxton also enters the general election carrying a record that has provided plenty of material for his opponents. He survived a 2023 Texas Senate impeachment trial after allegations involving abuse of office and bribery-related conduct, and his securities-fraud case was resolved through a pretrial diversion agreement. His political controversies have consequently remained part of the debate over whether the Republican nominee can broaden support beyond the voters who backed him in the primary.

For now, Tillis has made his position unmistakable: he believes Trump’s intervention created an unnecessary Republican headache in Texas. Whether that criticism proves politically consequential remains for Texas voters and the November election to determine, but one thing is already clear—the Texas Senate contest has become much bigger than the original primary battle. Readers should watch OGM News for further updates as Trump, Paxton, Talarico and the Republican Party enter the final stretch of this unusually expensive political showdown.