Trump Endorses Paxton Over Bush

All that sucking up to Trump got George P. Bush bubkis:

At the end of May, former President Donald Trump said that he liked two Texas attorney general candidates — current Attorney General Ken Paxton and Land Commissioner George P. Bush — “both very much,” but that he would make his “endorsement and recommendation to the great people of Texas in the not-so-distant future.”

Trump followed through with that on Monday evening and announced his endorsement of Paxton.

“Attorney General Ken Paxton has been bravely on the front line in the fight for Texas, and America, against the vicious and very dangerous Radical Left Democrats, and the foolish unsuspecting RINOs that are destroying our Country,” said Trump.

“Ken is strong on Crime, Border Security, the Second Amendment, Election Integrity and, above all, our Constitution. He loves our Military and our Vets. It is going to take a PATRIOT like Ken Paxton to advance America First policies in order to Make America Great Again. Ken has my Complete and Total Endorsement for another term as Attorney General of Texas. He is a true Texan who will keep Texas safe—and will never let you down!”

Paxton said that he was “honored to receive the endorsement” of Trump.

Several weeks ago after appearing at an event in South Texas along the border with Trump, the attorney general expressed optimism that the endorsement would “fall towards me at the right time.”

After the contested presidential election last year, Paxton filed a lawsuit on behalf of the state challenging the constitutionality of the elections in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, though the Supreme Court ultimately tossed his suit out.

I don’t agree with 100% of Trump’s endorsements, but he got this one right. Among Texas conservatives here is a palpable lack of excitement over Jeb!’s son moving up to Attorney General. Land Commissioner is not an office that usually draws much attention, but all the attention George P. Bush has drawn to it has tended to be negative, especially the Alamo controversy. There’s also a feeling that Paxton has generally done an excellent job and been on the right side of almost every issue, even if he hasn’t won all of them in court.

Paxton is also outpolling Bush right now 42% to 34% (usual poll caveats apply), and Eva Guzman has not yet made much of an impression on the race. Paxton also has more money on hand, but the Bush clan has a famously deep and effective money-raising machine, and Bush has already raised $2,264,137.95 for the race. How much Trump’s endorsement of Paxton will cool fundraising enthusiasm for Bush remains to be seen. I doubt many the people writing checks to Bush backed Trump prior to 2016, but Trump’s endorsement swings a lot of weight in Republican primaries, and I suspect a certain percentage of Bush donors may now see any further donations as wasted money.

Whoever wins the primary is likely to face Joe Jaworski in the general, and right now he has more cash on hand than any declared Democrat running statewide in 2022.

It’s going to be an interesting race…

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2 Responses to “Trump Endorses Paxton Over Bush”

  1. Chemist says:

    Read my lips: “No more Bushes”

  2. Brian says:

    I don’t give a crap what Trumps says, I will not vote in the primary for either Paxton or Abbott. Conservative or not, Paxton is the very definition of a slimy lawyer.

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