In Texas Senate run-off, MAGA ousts the old guard
5/27/202616 min
Republican Sen. John Cornyn was one of a few incumbents who lost their re-election bids in Texas’ primary run-off election Tuesday. We discuss what to make of the results and what to expect between now and November.
This episode: senior political correspondent Tamara Keith, congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales, and Texas Newsroom reporter Blaise Gainey.
This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.
Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Tamara Keith· Host0:18
[upbeat music] Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Tamara Keith, I cover politics.
Claudia Grisales· Panelist0:27
And I'm Claudia Grisales, I cover Congress.
Tamara Keith· Host0:29
And Blaise Gainey from the Texas Newsroom is also here. Welcome, Blaise.
Blaise Gainey· Guest0:33
Yeah, glad to be here.
Tamara Keith· Host0:34
So today on the show, takeaways from yesterday's primary runoffs in Texas, and let's start with the Republican Senate primary, where President Trump weighed in late to endorse State Attorney General Ken Paxton over four-time incumbent Senator John Cornyn. Blaise, tell us how that turned out and, and whether Trump's endorsement mattered.
Blaise Gainey· Guest0:54
You know, it turned out with Attorney General Ken Paxton really dominating, uh, Senator John Cornyn. I believe he won by around 30 points. Um, and it was really clear as soon as polls closed and results started to come out that he was gonna win. And also, uh, the Trump endorsement, it, it did matter, um, in, in, you know, if you're keeping, you know, tally of how many times he's endorsed somebody and they won. But i- in reality, these two guys are really well-known in the state. They've been in elected statewide offices for nearly 10