Southwest
Facing possible primary challenge from Trump ally, long-serving senator gets backing of leader Thune
As he gears up for what may potentially be his roughest re-election of his decades-long career, longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas landed the backing of the top Republican in the Senate.
“I’ve been honored to work alongside @JohnCornyn—one of the most effective and respected conservative leaders in the country,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune wrote in a social media post on Wednesday.
Thune, who topped Cornyn last year in the Senate GOP race to succeed longtime leader Mitch McConnell, emphasized that his one-time rival “was tireless and instrumental in building our majority. We need to keep him in the Senate & in the fight to deliver on President Trump’s agenda.”
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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
The Senate Majority Leader’s endorsement came a couple of hours after Cornyn — who previously served six years as the No. 2 Republican in the Senate — officially launched his 2026 re-election campaign, as he bids for a fifth six-year term representing Texas on Capitol Hill.
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The backing from Thune, which was widely expected, comes as the 73-year-old Cornyn faces a possible primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The conservative and MAGA firebrand who’s an ally of President Donald Trump has repeatedly for a couple of years flirted with taking on Cornyn.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, speaks during a news conference at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“I can’t think of a single thing he’s accomplished for our state or even for the country,” Paxton said in a September 2023 interview on the Fox News Channel. “Somebody needs to step up and run against this guy,” adding, “everything’s on the table for me.”
And in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this year, Paxton said that he’s “looking potentially at the U.S. Senate.”
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While Paxton is very popular with the conservative base of the party, political strategists note that toppling Cornyn in a GOP primary would likely be a very expensive proposition, and it’s not clear if Paxton could raise the money needed for victory.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, on August 5, 2022. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)
Paxton has claimed Cornyn does not represent the conservative values of Texans and accused him of not being an ally of Trump.
He has also regularly labeled Cornyn a “RINO,” a “Republican in name only” and an insult MAGA and “America First” Republicans have regularly used to criticize more mainstream or establishment members of the GOP.
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Cornyn, during the early stages of the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race, had said he would prefer that the GOP take a new direction, which angered Trump. But the senator endorsed Trump in late January of last year, after the then-former president won both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, the first two contests in the Republican White House calendar.
Since Trump returned to the White House two months ago, Cornyn has been supportive of the president’s cabinet nominees and agenda.
And in the senator’s campaign launch video, the announcer highlights that during Trump’s first term in office, “Texas Sen. John Cornyn had his back.”
“Now I’m running for re-election and asking for your support so President Trump and I can pick up where we left off,” Cornyn says to camera in the video.
Cornyn is a former state senator, former Texas Supreme Court justice, and former state attorney general, who first won election to the U.S. Senate in 2002.
Fox News’ Peter Pinedo contributed to this report
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Jurors deliberating the fate of the man accused of starting the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in California’s history, failed to reach a verdict Thursday afternoon, telling the judge they were deadlocked.
A spokesperson from the United States Attorney’s Office told KTLA that jurors will continue to deliberate until they reach a verdict or give up.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, a former Uber driver and one-time Pacific Palisades resident, is accused of starting the Lachman Fire on New Year’s Eve. The fire continued to smolder underground for about a week, even after Los Angeles firefighters believed it had been extinguished.
Flames reignited on Jan. 7, erupting into the deadly Palisades Fire that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes in the upscale community, authorities said.
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A courtroom sketch of Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, during his initial court appearance on Oct. 23, 2025. (Bill Robles) -
The U.S. Dept. of Justice booking photo of Jonathan Rinderknecht over the Palisades Fire devastation in Malibu, California in January 2025 (AP).
Prosecutors argued that Rinderknecht deliberately set the fire, claiming he had grown increasingly resentful of wealthy residents and viewed Pacific Palisades as a symbol of that frustration.
“Their case, though circumstantial, is strong,” KTLA legal analyst Alison Triessl said. “The defense is relying on, can they (prosecutors) show beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Rinderknecht actually started this fire and it wasn’t the result of fireworks or some intervening cause.”
The defense argued there is no direct physical evidence tying Rinderknecht to the fire and said the prosecution’s case relies entirely on circumstantial evidence. Rinderknecht did not testify during the trial.
Defense attorney Steve Haney spoke outside the courthouse Wednesday about why he believes it will be difficult for prosecutors to prove how the fire started.
“The lack of scene preservation. The fact that they got there after a lot of the evidence was missing. Not a lot of direct evidence. This is a circumstantial case, which is always difficult as a prosecutor to prove,” Haney said.
Rinderknecht, who was arrested and indicted last October, faces up to 45 years in prison if found guilty of three arson counts, including destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire.
Tony Kurzweil contributed to this report
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