On the campaign trail in North Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed that he would continue to fight for his supporters in Washington, if they elect him to the U.S. Senate. At a recent stop in Little Elm before the conservative group Restore The Republic, Paxton pointed to his record of suing the Obama and Biden administrations — including on President Biden’s last day in office. 

“That was the 107th lawsuit against Joe Biden in four years. For those of you who don’t know math, that’s a lot of lawsuits and we won 80% of these,” he said.

Vickie Costa, a Paxton supporter, praised his record. 

“I totally believe in him. He’s a good man. He’s done so many good things. On the other hand, I feel John Cornyn has been there a long time and done absolutely nothing for the state of Texas,” she said. 

When asked what Paxton has done that resonates with her, Costa said, “I think of a lot of different things, when he sued Biden, also the suits he’s done against Obama.” 

Paxton has declined all requests by CBS News Texas for a one-on-one interview. During his three campaign stops in North Texas in the past ten days, Paxton would not answer local reporters’ questions. Paxton regularly grants interviews to conservative media. 

Cornyn has sharply criticized Paxton for his ethical and marital problems. While Paxton was acquitted in the 2023 impeachment trial in the Texas Senate, the Attorney General’s office will have to pay at least $6.7 million to Paxton’s four former top hand-picked officials in his office who became whistleblowers. Paxton fired them after they went to the FBI to report alleged wrongdoing, something he denied. Federal authorities investigated Paxton during the Biden administration, but he was not charged. 

The Attorney General’s wife, State Senator Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) filed for divorce last year, citing “biblical grounds” in a post on X.

Paxton’s supporters like Steve Brown are sticking with him. 

“If I was looking for [Paxton] to be my pastor, if I was looking for him to be my marriage counselor, if I was looking for him to do those jobs, yeah, sure, I’d be more concerned with what Cornyn is saying,” Brown said. “But the reality is, I’m not. I’m looking for somebody to be a bulldog who goes to Washington, D.C. that makes sure D.C. understands Texas will not be trampled. You will have to come and take it.”  

When asked if Cornyn is a fighter, Brown said, “He hasn’t done that in 40 years, why would he start tomorrow?” 

Brown said Paxton is a fighter. 

“I know it. Look at his history,” Brown said.

At Paxton’s rally in Dallas on Monday, State Representative Katrina Pierson (R-Rockwall) said she is backing Paxton because he is a fighter, and she encouraged supporters to go to the polls. 

“We have to get out and vote because if our people get out and vote, we will win,” she said.

Paxton criticized Cornyn’s record, saying he hasn’t accomplished anything in his long political career. 

“If you just take any two weeks that I’ve been Attorney General, other than Christmas and Thanksgiving, I’ve accomplished more than any two-week period, John Cornyn can pick it, than he’s accomplished in 42 years,” Paxton said.

President Trump announced he was endorsing Paxton moments before the Attorney General appeared at a previously scheduled rally in Allen on Tuesday morning. State Representative Keresa Richardson (R-McKinney) repeated what Paxton’s supporters have said. 

“Nobody, nobody has fought harder for Texas than Ken Paxton. I don’t care if it’s for parents’ rights, immigration, election integrity, you name it,” Richardson said.

Another Paxton supporter, Sandra Hammer, put it this way: “Ken Paxton, on any issue that he gets, is a dog with a bone.” 

When asked why that was important to her, Hammer said, “I think people get up there and forget why we elected them. They need to get up there and represent us, and Ken Paxton, I know, will do that.”

Paxton has repeatedly questioned Cornyn’s support for President Trump, and said the Senator only changed his tune last year after he entered the race to challenge the incumbent. 

“The fake John Cornyn is going away in about seven days,” Paxton said.

Regardless of who wins the runoff on Tuesday, one of these long-time Republican elected officials will leave office at the end of the year when their terms expire.

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Voters in the Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday will decide a pair of spicy runoffs for Texas House District 41 in the heart of President Donald Trump’s massive gains in the region in 2024.

Republicans are eyeing a seat opened by the retirement of Rep. Bobby Guerra, a Democrat from Mission who represented the area since 2013, after the president carried the district last cycle with 50.3% of the vote — a 7-point swing to the right from his 2020 performance.

Similar lurches toward Republicans played out across the Texas-Mexico border, where the Texas GOP’s yearslong efforts to make inroads with Latino voters helped Trump claim 14 of the 18 counties within 20 miles of the border, including some that had not voted for a Republican presidential candidate in more than a century.

But it is not clear those gains will hold, as polls suggest the president’s immigration crackdown and an inflation-hampered economy have cracked the support from Latinos in the state and country. As Republicans brace for political headwinds in a midterm election and Democrats try to ride anti-Trump momentum, HD-41 is shaping up to be a battleground.

Julio Salinas, a 26-year-old former legislative staffer, has pitched himself to Democratic voters as a young progressive ready to take on the Pink Dome’s establishment and fight for affordability, better infrastructure and healthcare access for district residents.

He also wants to give teachers $15,000 raises and cap prescription drug costs.

“I have a fighting track record of fighting up against MAGA Republicans,” Salinas said in a recent phone interview as he block-walked in Edinburgh. “And winning.”

Salinas’ primary opponent, McAllen City Commissioner Victor “Seby” Haddad, says he has the upper hand with seven years of experience in local government and working with small businesses — crucial ties for a representative in a district that covers the Valley’s urban core, including McAllen.

Haddad has also outspent Salinas, who received the most votes in the March 3 primary.

Despite struggling to keep up with Salinas’ fundraising, Haddad spent $164,000 between late February and last week, when he filed his latest campaign finance report. Salinas spent $76,000 in the same period. Salinas has received financial backing from a variety of people, but his biggest donation came from gun control activist David Hogg’s Leaders We Deserve, which gave him $30,000.

Haddad also has another potential advantage to some in the district: Guerra’s endorsement. Meanwhile, Salinas has received endorsements from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and state Rep. Christina Morales, the Houston Democrat who Salinas worked for.

What’s resulted is a clash between a more traditional moderate Democrat and an insurgent progressive.

Salinas has knocked Haddad for his history of voting in GOP primaries and business connections, saying he’s for the grassroots and his opponent is all for the banks.

The vitriol reached a boiling point last week when Salinas blasted Haddad for a mailer that featured a photo of Haddad with Morales, the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee chair, with a caption that says she “stands with Seby in the fight for working families.”

Morales endorsed Salinas months ago, before she took on her role leading Democrats’ campaign arm. Salinas demanded an apology from Haddad, and Morales released a short video to reiterate her endorsement of her former employee.

“If they wish to make that request, they can make it directly,” Haddad said, dismissing the idea.

It’s placed Morales in an awkward position. “That race is getting very intense, and I was trying to stay out of it as much as I could,” Morales said.

In an interview, Haddad said his Republican voting history was no secret and he sees bipartisanship as a strength.

“I’m proud to say I am a moderate,” he said. “I’m a South Texas Democrat.”

Across the aisle, two GOP candidates are also vying to be on the ballot in November. Activist Gary Groves is facing criminal defense lawyer Sergio Sanchez, who previously voted in Democratic primaries.

Neither of their campaigns responded to interview requests.

Renzo Downey contributed to this report.