Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton added another endorsement to his growing field of backers in the Senate GOP: Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

Thune announced his support of Paxton on the Hugh Hewitt show Wednesday afternoon, less than a day after the bloody primary fight in the Lone Star State concluded. And the main target now is Texas state Rep. James Talarico, the insurgent Democratic nominee waiting for Paxton in November.

“The voters, Republican voters in Texas spoke last night,” Thune said. “Ken Paxton is their nominee heading into November, and we got to pivot and go all in to make sure that we keep Texas red, that he wins, and that we keep a far left liberal out of the United States Senate.”

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“And obviously, that seat is gonna be very key to our majority, which will determine the future of this country,” he continued.

Paxton was neither Thune nor the majority of Senate Republicans’ first choice, however.

Most of the Senate GOP backed longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, throughout the grueling battle to elect Texas’ Republican nominee for Senate. And many were shocked when President Donald Trump opted to endorse Paxton at the last minute, one week out Tuesday night’s runoff election finale.

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Republicans feared that if Paxton came out on top, it could tip the balance in favor of Democrats, who haven’t sent a lawmaker to the upper chamber since 1988.

But facing Talarico, who easily toppled his primary opponent Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, has placed the priority of maintaining the GOP’s majority in the Senate over personal choice for Republicans.

“We’ve gotta do everything we can do as a party, to make sure that that we win this race,” Thune said. “Because, you know, losing is not an option when it comes to the state of Texas, and what it means for our majority in the Senate.”

Thune isn’t the first Senate Republican to back Paxton, either.

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Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, leapt ahead of the crowd Tuesday night shortly after the race was called and urged the GOP to come together to beat Talarico, who he charged was a “far left freak who supports open borders, trans ideology, and even called the American flag a ‘complicated symbol.’”

“I am proud to endorse [Paxton],” Moreno said on X. “The voters have spoken, now Republicans must unite and win.”

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And the number two Republican in the Senate, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., soon followed.

“James Talarico is a far-left extremist,” Barrasso said on X. “He is a rubber stamp for open borders, illegal immigrant criminals, and men playing in women’s sports. Talarico is too radical for Texas.”

A Republican state senator who spotlighted his support for President Donald Trump and his MAGA agenda is one step closer to succeeding Ken Paxton as Texas attorney general.

State Sen. Mayes Middleton on Tuesday defeated Rep. Chip Roy, one of the most conservative members of the U.S. House, for the Republican attorney general nomination in Texas, the Associated Press reports.

Roy conceded the race shortly after the results came in, saying he had called Middleton to congratulate him.

“Just a little while ago, I called and congratulated @mayes_middleton for his victory in our race for the Republican nominee for Attorney General. I will have a full statement tomorrow. Onward,” Roy wrote on X.

The ballot-box battle between Roy and Middleton, the president of an independent oil and gas company, turned bitter and expensive, and partially became a test of which candidate was more of a fighter for Trump and his America First and MAGA movements.

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Middleton, who edged Roy in the March primary, dished out roughly $17 million of his own money to back his campaign. But Roy, a former Texas assistant attorney general and former chief of staff to conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, received a late surge in fundraising from major backers.

“We’ve gotten the financial support necessary to compete with my self-funder opponent, who’s got his inheritance money that he can just spend,” Roy highlighted in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff.

Roy argued that Middleton’s lack of courtroom experience would make him a poor attorney general.

“Having been the first assistant attorney general makes me ready on day one, but it’s also that I’ve been a prosecutor, I’ve been in court, I’ve sat in front of a judge, stood in front of a judge, argued cases, and he has never done any of those things. And we think those things should matter,” Roy emphasized.

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Middleton pushed back, questioning Roy’s conservative credentials and running ads claiming Roy’s “betrayed MAGA” as he pointed to the times the congressman has broken with Trump over policy.

“Chip Roy is someone that has spent a decade fighting the president. He actually said President Trump committed impeachable conduct on the House floor,” Middleton told Fox News Digital. “Instead of spending 10 years fighting President Trump, what have I done? I’ve spent 10 years fighting to defeat the left, which is what matters the most in this race.”

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But Roy, in response, said, “Everyone knows that I’m a longtime defender and supporter of the president’s agenda, of the America First agenda, the MAGA agenda, but I’m also an independent thinker who will stand up and make the case.”

And pointing to Middleton, Roy charged, “MAGA is not something you just buy. My opponent thinks you can buy the brand.”

Middleton returned fire, arguing, “Chip Roy is putting out there that he is a top ally to President Trump when the exact opposite is the case.”

Trump stayed neutral in the runoff showdown.

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Middleton will likely face Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson, who came close to clinching his party’s nomination in the primary. Johnson was facing off against former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.

Paxton decided against seeking re-election, as he ran for the Republican Senate nomination against longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn.

WASHINGTON — Precarious talks to end the war with Iran appeared close to collapse on Tuesday as renewed fighting across the region threatened to derail fragile progress toward a comprehensive settlement.

U.S. strikes against targets in southern Iran — the first since a ceasefire was declared in the war seven weeks ago — coupled with escalating attacks by Israel in Lebanon have undermined optimism that an agreement was within reach.

The attacks occurred just hours after U.S. and Iranian diplomats arrived in Qatar for peace talks. Iran’s top negotiators left Doha on Tuesday without comment. News of the strikes, and threats of retaliation by Tehran, sent global oil prices soaring back to more than $100 a barrel.

U.S. Central Command described Monday’s actions as “self-defense strikes” that were restrained and modest in scope, targeting missile launch sites and Iranian boats “attempting to emplace mines” in the Strait of Hormuz.

But the attack came as President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been projecting confidence that a framework agreement to end the war could be reached within days. Under the proposed deal, Iran would restore the strait to its prewar status as a free and open international waterway, while both sides entered 60 days of negotiations over the removal of Iran’s nuclear stockpile.

Laying mines in the strait in the 11th hour of the negotiations could signal to the Trump administration that Iran is not serious about reopening traffic there. But the Iranians said Tuesday that renewed U.S. strikes suggest it is Washington that is unprepared to commit to peace.

Iran’s Foreign Mministry condemned what it called “aggressive actions” by the United States, describing them in a statement as a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

“The commission of these aggressive acts — occurring concurrently with the ongoing diplomatic track mediated by Pakistan — has once again exposed the hostile nature and perfidy of the ruling establishment in the United States,” the statement said.

Iran “will not leave any hostile act unanswered,” the ministry added.

Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s elusive supreme leader, declared in a scheduled speech that U.S. allies throughout the Middle East “will no longer serve as a shield” for the American military, suggesting retaliatory strikes against U.S. assets in the region could be imminent.

Prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough were already dim. Over the last week, U.S. and Iranian officials projected optimism while outlining seemingly incompatible visions of a deal.

Trump has repeatedly said Iran would not receive any sanctions relief until its stockpile of fissile material is removed and destroyed. But Iranian officials reiterated Tuesday that unfreezing the country’s overseas assets remains a precondition for continued negotiations.

And it is unclear whether Iran would agree to a peace deal with the United States that does not also restrict the actions of Israel, whose leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has expressed deep skepticism about the diplomatic process.

Netanyahu said in recent days that Israel would not be bound by any nuclear pact, and that his government would continue military action against targets throughout the region — including in Lebanon — as it views necessary.

Israel’s continued assault on Lebanon nearly jeopardized the ceasefire between Iran and the United States before Trump brokered a separate, temporary halt to the fighting there. Since then, however, Israeli strikes have resumed, and Netanyahu vowed to intensify his campaign against Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group.

“We are not removing our foot from the pedal,” Netanyahu said in a video address Monday. “On the contrary, I said to step on the pedal even more.”

Israel’s military ramped up its operations Tuesday, attacking what it said were more than 100 Hezbollah sites across southern and eastern Lebanon, while extending ground incursions deeper into Lebanese territory.

The overnight strikes struck weapons storage facilities, command centers, observation posts and infrastructure sites, according to an Israeli military statement.

Israeli media also reported that Israeli troops were operating beyond a 6.2-mile zone they occupy in southern Lebanon, in what many fear may be a prelude to a wider invasion.

Those fears were further stoked Tuesday by fresh Israeli evacuation orders for the entirety of Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon’s second-largest city.

Hezbollah upped its campaign as well, peppering Israeli troops in southern Lebanon and areas of northern Israel with drones and rocket attacks, according to statements from the group. Hezbollah-affiliated media reported the group’s fighters clashing with Israeli troops to prevent their advance.

In recent weeks, Hezbollah has increasingly relied on fiber-optic drones — which are both low-cost and impervious to jamming — to harass Israeli positions.

On Sunday, an Israeli soldier was killed and another wounded when a Hezbollah kamikaze drone hit their armored personnel carrier, according to the Israeli military; 23 Israeli soldiers and a civilian defense contractor have been killed in the current conflagration between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel’s military says.

The latest bout of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel began March 2, when the Iran-backed group launched attacks on Israel to avenge the killing of Iran’s ayatollah, Ali Khamenei.

So far, Israeli strikes have killed 3,213 people, wounded more than triple that number, and left more than a million displaced, according to Lebanese health authorities.

A ceasefire signed April 17 sidelined the capital, Beirut, from strikes but has done little to stop the fighting otherwise, with Hezbollah and Israel continuing attacks despite unprecedented direct negotiations taking place between the Israeli and Lebanese governments.

It was unclear whether Netanyahu’s warning meant Beirut would be targeted once more. Israeli drones buzzed throughout the day over the capital and the Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs Tuesday.

Hezbollah opposes direct negotiations and insists it will keep fighting until Israel withdraws from Lebanon and stops attacks. Israel has demanded the Lebanese government do more to disarm Hezbollah and to move toward a peace deal.

Bulos reported from Beirut.