WHAT THEY’RE SAYING: Trump’s Refusal to Endorse Deals “Serious Blow” to “Increasingly Desperate” John Cornyn & NRSC in “Bitter” GOP Texas Primary

Punchbowl News: “It’s now official – President Donald Trump won’t endorse Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) reelection bid, a serious blow to the veteran Republican’s campaign”

The alarm bells are ringing inside the NRSC as John Cornyn grows “increasingly desperate” after he “just can’t seem to grovel low enough” to earn Trump’s endorsement, dealing a “serious blow” to the incumbent senator’s re-election bid. 

Trump’s refusal to endorse is the “latest sign of trouble for the four-term senator” enmeshed in a “bitter, very expensive Republican primary.” Texas Republicans are barreling toward a “costly runoff” after Rep. Wesley Hunt chose to “defy Senate GOP leadership” and jump in the ring with scandal-plagued Ken Paxton – an outcome that even the NRSC admits could “cost Republicans control of the Senate.”

See for yourself:

Punchbowl News: Can Cornyn win without Trump? 

• After months of public and private drama, it’s now official – President Donald Trump won’t endorse Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) reelection bid, a serious blow to the veteran Republican’s campaign.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who’s been pushing Trump and top White House officials to back Cornyn for several months, said Thursday that the president wouldn’t be endorsing in the race.
• “We’ve tried. And the president obviously is not, at this point at least, willing to make an endorsement there,” Thune said. “So maybe at some point that changes. But as of right now, they’re gonna, I think, duke it out in the primary.”
• Cornyn is locked in a bitter, very expensive Republican primary with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas). The latest poll shows Paxton and Cornyn tied, with Hunt in third place. The primary will be held on March 3. If no candidate receives a majority, there will be a May 26 runoff between the top two vote getters.
• The Trump factor. Cornyn’s campaign insists he can win without Trump, yet the failure to get the president’s backing is just the latest sign of trouble for the four-term senator. It’s also a problem for Thune and Senate GOP leaders, who’ve already dumped serious money into the primary in support of Cornyn.
• The 73-year-old Cornyn’s reelection problems are stunning for a high-profile GOP senator who almost became majority leader at the start of this Congress. Thune and Cornyn were among those Republicans who criticized Trump following his 2020 election loss and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
• Yet while both Republican senators later made up with Trump, the president refuses to back Cornyn even as he praises Thune. This comes despite personal pleas from Cornyn to Trump for an endorsement. Thune, Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso and NRSC Chair Tim Scott have tried to intervene with Trump on Cornyn’s behalf as well.
• Thune-aligned outside groups have spent tens of millions of dollars to boost Cornyn in the three-way primary. Thune has defended that approach by arguing that if Cornyn isn’t the nominee, Republicans would need to spend even more money in the general election just to keep that Senate seat.
• But while the primary is in early March, the three-way race is almost certain to go to a runoff that will last more than two months. Assuming Cornyn makes it to the runoff, that could mean another nine-figure spend for SLF and affiliated groups.
• “That’s 10 weeks of spending in a state where it’s $8 million a week on television in 22 media markets,” Thune added.

POLITICO: Trump has no plans to endorse in final 3 Senate races

• There are three sitting Republican senators President Donald Trump has not endorsed for reelection. He has no imminent plans to change that.
• Cornyn recently asked Trump for his endorsement, the senator told the Houston Chronicle, and Trump told Cornyn that he’s not ready to grant it.
• Texas’s primary is seven weeks away but the White House has never been keen on involving itself in this particular contest.

Bloomberg Government: GOP’s Effort to Win Trump Endorsement for Cornyn Hits a Wall

• Texas is one of the highest-profile primaries in 2026, where Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is in a fierce fight to keep his seat against challengers state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas).
• All three are pitching themselves as Trump loyalists. The Senate Republican leadership and financing arm is standing by Cornyn, warning that a Paxton nomination could threaten the seat. If no candidate wins a majority in the primary, Texas would hold a likely costly runoff.

Chron: Trump unlikely to weigh in on Texas GOP Senate race, leaving candidates to clash

• President Donald Trump has no plans to endorse in the Paxton-Cornyn-Hunt Republican primary Texas U.S. Senate showdown, despite heavy-handed efforts by the GOP big names to win Trump’s stamp of approval.
• After widespread speculation over whether Trump would weigh in on the hotly contested primary, four people familiar with the White House’s thinking told Politico that the president remained unmoved to back one candidate.
• “I said, ‘Mr. President, this race would be over if you decided to endorse,” Cornyn said. “He said, ‘I know, I know.’ He’s obviously not ready to do that. And I think he wants to see how the race develops.”