Ken Paxton calls for party unity. Some Republicans aren’t on board
Republicans Michael Burgess and Joe Barton, former congressmen who represented North Texas in Washington, are alike in their support of Sen. John Cornyn.
They both endorsed the longtime Republican senator for a fifth term. They both saw him lose Tuesday night, when Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton soundly won his runoff against Cornyn, an endorsement from President Donald Trump in tow.
But, Wednesday morning — after assessing the wreckage of a scathing primary season that fractured the state’s Republicans — the two men have reached different conclusions about their plans for the Nov. 3 general election, when Paxton will face Democratic nominee James Talarico.
“I do not plan to vote for Ken Paxton,” said Burgess, who now lives in Aubrey, after representing Congressional District 26 from 2003 to 2025.
Barton will.
“There is no way on God’s green earth I’m going to turn around and vote for the Democratic candidate,” said Barton, who has known Cornyn for years, having represented Congressional District 6 for more than three decades before retiring in 2019. Barton even put a sign in his front yard supporting his former colleague’s bid, he said.
There’s always the option to sit out altogether, but that’s a nonstarter for the former congressman.
“You could say, ‘I just won’t vote,’ but that’s not fair because you have an obligation,” Barton said. “Democracy eventually narrows things down to two candidates, and if you participate, you participate, and I will support Paxton.”
Many Republicans across the state are weighing the same question of what to do come November.
Calls for unity after a rough and tumble primary
The run up to Tuesday was bruising as Cornyn went on the attack, going after Paxton’s personal and professional troubles that have loomed over his political career.
The attorney general has faced allegations of securities fraud, bribery, corruption and infidelity, but has come out largely unscathed. Meanwhile, he’s garnered a reputation as a conservative champion in the courtroom and a loyal friend to Trump and the MAGA movement.
Facing fears of a torn-apart party and an expensive fight ahead, there have been early calls for unity within the GOP, as the national party tries to keep its grip on the Senate in November and as Texas Republicans worry about keeping statewide and legislative seats red in what could be a vulnerable, midterm election cycle.
Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill of Flower Mound told Paxton’s election night watch party attendees that they need to unify unless they’re ready to see Talarico in Washington.
“Now we’re at a point where it’s the Reds versus the Blues, it’s shirts and skins,” Gill said. “Now it’s time for Republicans to come together to unite to make sure that we send a Republican, Ken Paxton, to the Senate.”
Republican state Rep. Mitch Little was one of the most outspoken Paxton supporters during the primary election. Before being elected to represent part of Denton County in 2024, Little’s claim to political fame was as Paxton’s defense attorney in the impeachment trial.
He said Paxton is no stranger to garnering party support after a heated primary. In 2022, Paxton went head-to-head with challenger George P. Bush in a primary runoff for his seat as attorney general. After clinching the 2022 win, Paxton quickly turned to torn Republicans asking for alliance.
The same demand was a cornerstone of Paxton’s victory speech. He also gave a short statement of thanks to Cornyn for his years of service.
“Tonight is not the end of a campaign,” Paxton told supporters. “Tonight is the beginning of the fight to preserve every value we hold dear. The future of Texas and the future of America is on the line, and I intend to do everything I can to expand our movement. I won three statewide elections, because I know how critical it is for our party to come together, and that’s what we must do now.”
Little said politicians have to master the art of keeping short accounts.
“Once you’re in politics, you don’t tend to forget things like that,” Little said. “You know who ran the ugly ads and had negative things to say about you, but you have to put that in its proper compartment and just realize that the state of Texas is more important than any of those, any kind of personal grudge that you might hold.”
Cornyn didn’t mention Paxton by name in an election night speech, but did say he’d support the Republican ticket in the general election.
What do North Texas Cornyn supporters do on Nov. 3?
Former and current Republican elected officials in North Texas were split in their U.S. Senate race endorsements during the primary and now — like Cornyn voters — face the question of what to do in November.
The Star-Telegram has reached out to many of the Tarrant County-area officials who were backing the incumbent senator for reelection about their plans for the Senate race during the general election.
State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, a Southlake Republican, said he will support and vote for Paxton. In an email, Pat Hardy, a Republican who previously served on the State Board of Education, said she will vote for him too and support the Republican ticket.
North Richland Hills Mayor Jack McCarty called Talarico an “extreme liberal” in an email and said he’d be voting for Republicans in November, though he didn’t mention Paxton specifically.
U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman, a Fort Worth Republican who endorsed Cornyn, also turned attention to Talarico.
“I plan to support and vote for the entire Republican ticket in November,” Goldman said. “Any Republican is better than any candidate of today’s version of the Mamdani led Democrat party.”
Former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said she would not endorse Paxton and hasn’t decided about voting.
“November is still a ways off,” she said in an email. “I want to see how this race shapes up.”
Fort Worth City Council member Michael Crain declined to comment. Former state Rep. Stephanie Klick, a Republican who previously represented Haltom City, Watauga, North Richland Hills and part of north Fort Worth in the Texas House, was not available for an interview.
U.S. Rep. Jake Ellzey, U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, state Rep. Charlie Geren and Mayor Mattie Parker did not immediately return requests for comment.
For Burgess, the former North Texas congressman who said he will not vote for Paxton, the solution isn’t voting for Talarico.
No, that’s also not an option.
“I may write John Cornyn’s name in,” he said. “I may write my name in. I don’t know what I’ll do.”
But supporting Paxton?
“Just morally, it’s something I cannot bring myself to do,” he said.
Winning over Cornyn voters
Burgess repurposed a quote from Trump as he reflected on Wednesday’s losing outcome for Cornyn.
“I’m not happy,” he said.
The president endorsed Paxton in the final days of the runoff, bucking Senate leadership’s preference of a Cornyn-Talarico ballot. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and members of the Republican establishment are now beginning to build bridges with Paxton in the wake of his decisive victory, Axios reports.
To Burgess, it seems, too many bridges have been burned to win over Cornyn voters like him.
“I don’t know how you make up that ground over the five months ahead … given just the amount of turmoil that’s going to be present in the electorate,” Burgess said.
Hardy, the former State Board of Education member who endorsed Cornyn, has moderate Republican friends saying they won’t vote in the general election.
She has her reservations with Paxton — his character and her impression that he’s arrogant — but she won’t be joining her friends in staying on the sidelines. Cornyn has more of a “gentleman persona,” Hardy said.
“It probably was not wise for him to run again, because of the fact that he has been around for so long, but he’s — I just like the guy,” she said. “He’s a good man.”
Paxton wasn’t Hardy’s first pick, but the attorney general aligns with her conservative policy positions on issues like abortion and sports participation for transgender athletes more than Talarico does.
“I probably won’t go door to door or anything like that,” she said with a chuckle.
Cornyn could have been better about standing up to Republicans in the Senate and he and his peers more aggressive on the SAVE America Act, an election bill Paxton made a center point of his runoff bid, Hardy said.
The incumbent’s electability in November against Talarico factored heavily into her endorsement calculus.
Barton, the former congressman who is supporting Paxton going forward after endorsing Cornyn, said Cornyn lost not because he did a bad job — “he did a very good job” — but because voters wanted a change.
You’ve got to give Paxton credit, he said.
“It’s no small task to defeat an incumbent U.S. Senator of the stature of John Cornyn,” Barton said.
Paxton is a personable man who is good with people in small settings and will be an effective U.S. senator, Barton said. Asked if he has any lingering reservations he’d like to see Paxton overcome, Barton turned the conversation to Democrats.
“I have great faith in the Democrat Party to expose whatever they consider Mr. Paxton’s flaws to be ad nauseam,” said Barton, who is no stranger to scandal himself.
Paxton’s public divorce on “biblical grounds” was a feature of the primary. In a perfect world, people have a perfect private life and marriage, but that’s very rare, he said. What matters more is how officials conduct themselves in office, their voting record and service to constituents.
“I will not say that your private life does not matter,” Barton said. “I think it does matter, but it is not normally the determining factor.”
For Burgess, the way Paxton “has treated his spouse” is something he “almost can’t get over.”
Weighing whether there’s anything Paxton could do to win over his vote, Burgess replies, “We’ll see.”
“That’s his task for the next five months,” he said.
This story was originally published May 27, 2026 at 2:46 PM with the headline "Ken Paxton calls for party unity. Some Republicans aren’t on board."
