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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. John Cornyn after Paxton handily won the runoff against Cornyn on Tuesday. When President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton late in the race, the campaign was effectively over. It is President Trump’s GOP, and his endorsement in a primary is the decider. Period.

Had Cornyn been the nominee, his re-election would have been a layup. Paxton’s race against Texas state Rep. James Talarico will be much more like a contested 3-pointer in the NBA than a layup. Talarico is indeed, as President Trump nicely summed it up, "weird." But even given that, Paxton will need to raise a ton of money because the engines of the Democratic fundraising machine are already at top speed for the hard-left Talarico. Paxton should win, but even Golden State Warriors star and future NBA Hall of Famer Steph Curry hits only slightly more than 42% of his shots from beyond the arc. Curry may be the best ever, but it’s a tough task to drill that shot.

So too is Paxton’s task. The entire Texas GOP will need to get behind him quickly, and Paxton will need Cornyn’s half-million runoff voters and his financial supporters. The whole GOP will need to swing behind Paxton, even though Cornyn is respected and admired by longtime conservatives like me who value his knowledge of the Constitution, his work on the Judiciary Committee in every tough fight there over decades, and his tenure as GOP whip. But party loyalists have to know that ours is a two-party system and Winston Churchill’s admonition, "Trust the people!" applies in every fair contest.

So too does the wisdom of another brilliant prime minister of Great Britain — Benjamin Disraeli, whose years as leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservatives came in the 19th century.

MAGA TRIUMPH: TRUMP ALLY KEN PAXTON DEFEATS JOHN CORNYN IN BITTER TEXAS GOP PRIMARY WAR

"It is not becoming in any Minister to decry party who has risen by party," Disraeli declared long ago. "We should always remember that if we were not partisans, we should not be Ministers." The same applies to every elected member of the GOP Senate stung by the defeat dealt their friend by the Lone Star State’s Republican voters.

The Senate majority is very much up for grabs in the fall. Republicans must defend four seats in which Democrats will mount well-financed campaigns, even if their nominees are weak. Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Jon Husted of Ohio face hard-left Democrats in Graham Platner and former Sen. Sherrod Brown. Platner is quickly becoming an albatross for Democrats across the country, as well as in Maine, but Maine is a purple-to-blue state. Brown is as formidable a candidate as Democrats can field in ruby-red Ohio.

10 SENATE RACES THAT COULD DECIDE CONTROL OF THE CHAMBER IN THE 2026 MIDTERMS

Republicans also have to defend an open seat in North Carolina. Former national GOP chairman Michael Whatley has considerable skills and financial backing, but he drew the best candidate of all the Democrats in 2026’s close races: former Tar Heel State Gov. Roy Cooper. Democrats have a vulnerable incumbent in Georgia, where Sen. Jon Ossoff is still very much the "accidental senator," but he is as hard-left as Democratic activists and donors want. Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire are all seats held by retiring Democrats, and Republicans should nominate excellent candidates not just against Ossoff but also in these three states.

So while the GOP’s current margin in the Senate is three, and control would flip to Democrats only if their nominees win four of the seven seats "in play," that’s not an impossible result, especially in the sixth year of any presidency.

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The actual accomplishments of all presidents eventually get reduced to two or three lines in American textbooks. TR, for example, is best known for the Great White Fleet, the national park system — and the election of Woodrow Wilson and all the ill that was brought down upon the country because of Roosevelt’s decision to split the GOP in 1912. Richard Nixon’s three are summed up as opening China, détente with the Soviets and Watergate. It pretty much works that way for everyone not named Lincoln or Washington.

Right now, President Trump’s tentative trio is saving the Constitution with his three Supreme Court nominees, the war with Iran and his remarkable 2016 upset and 2024 comeback.

If the Senate flips, that record is going to change dramatically, as the lawfare Trump faced while out of office will pale next to the procession of articles of impeachment from the House and never-ending trials in the Senate — none of which would succeed in removing Trump from office but all of which will drain the last two years of his tenure of joy and of other possible legislative accomplishments.

Holding on to the Senate majority is vital to the president, the party and especially the country. The Democrats have collectively embraced an agenda of extreme policy and rhetoric. So, whatever your feelings about any of the GOP’s Senate nominees, put them aside and realize — once again — it is the party with the majority in the two chambers of Congress that sets much of the agenda. There simply isn’t any room to brood over tough losses.

Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

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Farmers across the Northeast are facing devastating losses after a rare late-April freeze destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crops, wiping out entire apple and peach harvests in some areas.

At Terhune Orchards in Princeton, New Jersey, orchard owner Tannwen Mount says the damage is unlike anything her family has experienced before.

"It was really a catastrophic loss for our whole region, not just here at Terhune Orchards," Mount said.

Usually, spring at the orchard is marked by budding apple trees and the beginning of a busy growing season. But this year, many trees are showing little sign of life after temperatures plunged during a critical stage of crop development.

PREVIOUS CROP LOSS FOR FARMERS IN THE NORTHEAST

Agriculture officials say the freeze hit at nearly the worst possible moment.

"This is what we call a generational freeze," said New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn. "Almost like a hundred-year storm — almost a perfect event."

According to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, farmers across the state lost an estimated $300 million worth of fruit crops because of the freeze. Apples and peaches were among the hardest hit.

Mount says the widespread nature of the damage makes this season especially difficult.

"Never have we lost multiple crops all at once for the season," she said.

NEBRASKA RANCHERS STRUGGLE TO RECOVER FROM HISTORIC WILDFIRES AS DROUGHT WORSENS CRISIS

The freeze also impacted neighboring Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s top peach-producing states, raising concerns about reduced fruit supplies throughout the Northeast and beyond.

"There’s just not going to be any peaches from this region," Wengryn warned.

In response to the losses, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill has requested federal disaster relief to help struggling farmers stay afloat. 

State officials say low-interest federal loans could provide critical support as growers attempt to recover from a season with little or no fruit to sell.

CONGRESS MUST NOT DERAIL THE FREIGHT RAIL LIFELINE FOR AMERICA'S FARMERS

"It’s an inexpensive source of money to help pay your bills and kind of carry you through this growing season," Wengryn explained. "Because you're not going to have a product to sell to get your next year going."

Despite the damage, some farmers are finding ways to adapt.

At Terhune Orchards, Mount says surviving crops like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and vegetables could help offset some of the losses.

"We’re in the middle of our strawberry season. Blueberries and blackberries look great, and this is the year for pick-your-own vegetables," Mount said. "So we’re doing things a little bit different."

She’s also encouraging consumers to support local agriculture during a difficult year for farmers across the region.

"This is the year to really support your local farmers," Mount said. "Come out and buy local produce."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced relief assistance for Pennsylvania farmers affected by the freeze. USDA officials say New Jersey’s request is still under review.

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A California teacher was arrested after allegedly engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct with a minor, authorities said.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit said it is investigating allegations involving inappropriate contact with a student at a school in Moreno Valley, California.

The teacher, identified as Samantha J. Watson, 41, of Eastvale, was charged with sending harmful material to a juvenile, oral copulation and digital penetration.

Investigators said the alleged conduct occurred between 2017 and 2018.

CALIFORNIA MIDDLE SCHOOL ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL NABBED IN CHILD SEX STING

Authorities allege Watson had inappropriate contact with a student while employed as a teacher at a charter school located in the 23000 block of Sunnymead Boulevard in Moreno Valley.

Authorities did not identify the school where Watson allegedly worked.

Fox News Digital has reached out to schools in the area for comment.

EX-TEACHER FACES 25 CHARGES INCLUDING RAPE AND ABUSE AS INVESTIGATION WIDENS

Authorities said the investigation into Watson began in January following allegations of inappropriate contact involving a student.

Investigators executed a search warrant May 22 at a residence in the 14000 block of Silent Stream Court in Eastvale, authorities said.

Watson was taken into custody without incident.

"This is an ongoing investigation, and no additional details are available at this time," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Investigators said they believe there may be additional victims.

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Bernie Sanders’ war against AI just gained a powerful new ally: the pope.

In a new encyclical considered to be his most important policy statement to date, Pope Leo XIV warns that AI "threatens to normalize an anti-human vision" and calls for regulation of the booming industry. According to Vatican News, the pontiff advises that technology must not be concentrated "in the hands of a few," but managed "so that the guiding principle is not solely profit but the dignity of every person and the common good of all people."

Channeling progressive Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who wants a federal moratorium on data center construction to slow the rapidly advancing technology, Pope Leo writes that AI cannot be allowed to throw people out of work "in the name of reducing costs and increasing profit." Like Bernie, the pope "expresses his hopes for a renewal of labor organizations."

The pope has linked his encyclical letter, which The Wall Street Journal writes is "poised to define Leo’s papacy," to an 1891 encyclical titled "Rerum Novarum," or "new things," which criticized social woes stemming from the Industrial Revolution. That missive was written by Pope Leo XIII, the predecessor who inspired the current pope’s choice of name. Leo XIV signed his encyclical, "Magnifica humanitas," on May 15, as did Leo XIII.

POPE LEO WARNS AI RISKS BECOMING TOOL OF 'DOMINATION, EXCLUSION AND DEATH' IN NEW ENCYCLICAL

It’s a telling choice. Yes, the Industrial Revolution created considerable suffering for early factory workers and migrants who flooded into cities ill-prepared to house or feed them. On the other hand, that same industrialization of manual work led to an unprecedented increase in living standards, health and prosperity. Before factories and machines took over production, travel and farming, most of humanity lived in abject poverty and on the edge of starvation.

The Industrial Revolution led to a huge boost in the production of everyday items such as clothes and furniture, and to lower costs. Real wages, meanwhile, climbed steadily over the course of the 19th century throughout the industrialized world, and the poverty rate declined sharply.

As described by the Adam Smith Institute, which champions capitalism: "It was the Industrial Revolution that generated the wealth that paid for advances in public health and sanitation. It led to the conquest not only of extreme poverty, but of curable and preventable diseases. Far from bringing poverty and misery to the masses, it did the opposite, lifting their material conditions at a rate and to a level never before witnessed in human history."

HERE'S HOW WE CAN LIVE AND WORK WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WITHOUT LOSING OUR HUMANITY

That is the uplifting event in human history that Pope Leo XIII deplored. In the same vein, Pope Leo XIV is opposed to the progress and wealth creation promised by artificial intelligence. As with the early industrialists who developed the steam engine and the spinning jenny, Silicon Valley innovators are making fortunes from AI and becoming politically powerful.

Tech moguls acknowledge that some jobs will be overtaken by AI, but they also predict a boost to overall productivity, which will lead to more leisure time, less drudgery and other benefits. They also see AI leading to great medical advances. Bernie Sanders and Pope Leo XIV are narrowly focused on job losses; perhaps they cannot imagine the benefits.

They are not imagining the millions of people around the world suffering from diseases, such as Parkinson’s, that may soon be curable thanks to the analytical powers of AI. They evidently don’t know about Jorie Kraus, who was stricken with a rare genetic disorder and spent the first 73 days of her life in a neonatal ICU and her first two years struggling to breathe or speak. Thanks to an AI diagnosis, Jorie was prescribed a common muscle relaxer used to treat seizures, and suddenly her little body regained control of her muscles. It was a miracle. Her mother gushed to an audience, "I said, ‘It can’t be, and it can’t be so fast. It was almost like a light switch.’"

MARGARET SPELLINGS: AI IS HERE — AND AMERICA'S SCHOOLS AREN'T PREPARING OUR KIDS TO SURVIVE IT

Or they aren’t impressed by the medical community’s newfound ability to repurpose existing drugs with the help of AI. The BBC reports, "At Harvard Medical School, an AI model found nearly 8,000 approved drugs that could potentially be repurposed to treat 17,000 different diseases."

AI’s potential benefits are not limited to medicine. Large models can help streamline operations such as air traffic control or the TSA, helping to make flying safer and travel easier. Fraud and waste in government spending can more easily be tracked and eliminated. Many dull chores, such as drafting legal agreements or creating financial spreadsheets, can be done in a jiffy, while weather forecasting could become more accurate, helping people prepare for catastrophes.

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AI critics, including Bernie and the pope, are alarmed that the bots can do some things faster and cheaper than humans, raising concerns about employment prospects. Young people, especially, are worried about their futures, and increasingly hostile toward the industry. AI developers have not adequately addressed these concerns. They should be encouraging students to learn how to use artificial intelligence, and how to master its power, showing how it can enhance their skills and opportunities.

Meanwhile, AI critics have taken a toll. According to a Morning Consult survey of brands and industries, AI is in the top 10 most distrusted categories, ranking just above social media. Interestingly, Americans are becoming less enamored with AI even as they use it more. Meanwhile, skepticism about AI is confined almost entirely to the English-speaking developed world; residents of other countries are much more positive on ChatGPT, Gemini and the like.

AI creators may be brilliant, but they’re not doing a very good job promoting the new technology to Americans. They need to fix this by showing people what AI can do for them, and encouraging regulation, along with the Trump White House, that assuages concerns.

Otherwise, Bernie and the pope may shut them down, abandoning the field to countries, especially China, which will erect far fewer guardrails to protect humanity. That is a far more frightening prospect.

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All evacuation orders stemming from a hazardous materials incident at a Southern California aerospace facility were lifted Tuesday night, allowing thousands of residents to return home.

Officials lifted the final evacuation order for residents in Garden Grove living near a damaged chemical tank at GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems that had previously been at risk of exploding.

Authorities said roughly 50,000 people were ordered to evacuate in and around the Orange County city after a tank containing highly flammable methyl methacrylate (MMA) overheated and became compromised.

"All residents will go home," Orange County Fire Authority Division Chief Craig Covey said during a meeting.

DISNEYLAND REMAINS OPEN AS EVACUATION ZONE SHRINKS AROUND CHEMICAL TANK SCARE

Over Memorial Day weekend, a crack unexpectedly formed in the tank, relieving pressure and helping avert a catastrophic explosion, allowing most evacuees to return home. Still, roughly 16,000 residents remained under evacuation orders heading into Tuesday.

Crews continued spraying water on the tank until the interior temperature stabilized at 92 degrees, down from 100 degrees over the weekend.

A sprinkler system also doused the tank while company specialists and firefighters removed insulation to help cool it.

COMMERCIAL BUILDING EXPLODES IN NEW JERSEY, MULTIPLE PEOPLE INJURED AND REMAIN IN CRITICAL CONDITION

Authorities said evacuation orders were lifted after the tank’s temperature remained stable for four hours without assistance from the sprinkler system.

While health officials have assured residents that monitoring had not detected hazardous levels of contamination or fumes, authorities said they will continue monitoring air quality, sewer systems and storm drains for several months.

Exposure to MMA can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological issues, and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

WORKERS KILLED AND MANY TREATED AFTER REFINERY CHEMICAL RELEASE AS INVESTIGATORS PROBE CAUSE

Garden Grove Mayor Stephanie Klopfenstein said she plans to hold the company accountable.

GKN said in a statement Tuesday that it was continuing to work closely with authorities.

"We apologize for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing, and our priority remains the safety of our neighbors and our community," the statement said.

Residents at the meeting questioned why large quantities of the chemical were stored near homes and urged city officials to scrutinize the company’s safety practices.

SHOCKING VIDEO SHOWS GIANT BLACK PLUME OF SMOKE RISING FROM TENNESSEE PLASTIC RECYCLING FACILITY FIRE

Crews had been racing to prevent a catastrophic failure since Thursday, when officials responded to vapor releasing from a in a storage tank at the facility, which manufactures engine structures and products for commercial and military aircraft.

Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday as crews shifted from defensive containment operations to high-risk offensive actions aimed at preventing an explosion.

Orange County Fire Authority Chief TJ McGovern told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday the crisis was likely caused by the failure of a cooling system designed to regulate the temperature inside the chemical tanks, though officials were still investigating.

He said the malfunction may have caused heat to build inside a pressurized tank containing 7,000 gallons of MMA.

"We don’t know why, but it stopped cooling," McGovern said. "So that’s what started this event, to where the product heated up ... and that’s how this whole response started. We’re just now being able to get to the tanks, so there’s definitely more to come of what caused it."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Americans still debate Iran through an outdated lens. We speak of war as something that starts with bombs, troop deployments, or congressional declarations. Yet Iran has waged asymmetric war against the United States and the West since 1979 — through terrorism, proxy forces, illicit finance, ideological movements, cyber operations, criminal partnerships, and gray-zone tactics deliberately kept below the threshold of conventional conflict.

The real danger is not merely Iran’s capabilities. It is our refusal to recognize the nature of the fight.

Many Americans view conflict with Iran as something happening "over there" — in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, the Red Sea, or the Strait of Hormuz. In reality, Iran’s infrastructure has embedded itself much closer to home: across Latin America, inside cartel corridors, through illicit financial networks, migration pipelines, and the operational seams inside the United States itself.

AMERICAN ‘JIHAD’ FUELED BY 'RISKY SOURCE' INSIDE US BORDERS, WARNS NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERT

This did not happen by accident. It was built deliberately over decades via proxies, criminal convergence, ideological networks, covert finance, and tradecraft designed to obscure attribution. In fact, just two days after I testified before Congress warning about the convergence between cartel infrastructure, Iranian-backed proxies, and gray-zone warfare, the Department of Justice unsealed charges against an Iraqi national tied to exactly the kind of hybrid threat architecture I described

Prosecutors charged Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a senior commander in Kata’ib Hizballah (KH)—an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — with directing attacks on Jewish, Israeli, and American targets across Europe and North America, including a plot against a Manhattan synagogue.

The most revealing aspect of the case was not simply the attacks themselves. It was the operational model behind them.

Al-Saadi allegedly sought to coordinate through Mexican cartel-linked smuggling networks and criminal facilitators across the Western Hemisphere. The attacks were branded under a new front group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI), designed to appear independent while advancing KH, Hezbollah, and IRGC goals.

This layered structure provides operational security, plausible deniability, and strategic distance from the violence itself — hallmarks of Iranian tradecraft. Iran has refined this operational model for decades. In 1983, Iranian cleric and intelligence operative Mohsen Rabbani arrived in Argentina under commercial and religious cover tied to halal meat certification. He became imam of a Buenos Aires mosque while serving as Iran’s cultural attaché. Using mosques, cultural centers, charities, front companies, and diaspora networks, he helped build Iranian and Hezbollah infrastructure across Latin America. The Tri-Border Area (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay) became a hub for Hezbollah financiers, smugglers, traffickers, and money launderers operating alongside criminal networks. This ecosystem enabled the 1992 Israeli Embassy bombing in Buenos Aires and the 1994 AMIA bombing that killed 85 people. Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman’s investigation found Iran directed the attacks while Hezbollah executed them through layered proxies — mirroring today’s tactics.

These are not isolated terrorism cases. They reflect a resilient asymmetric architecture built to operate below the threshold that would trigger conventional war. Iran does not see threats as separate silos — Houthis in the Red Sea, militias in Iraq and Syria, Hezbollah in Latin America, or cartels at the U.S. border. Tehran views them as interconnected fronts in a multi-domain campaign that exploits globalization’s infrastructure: smuggling routes, corruption networks, illicit finance, and governance gaps.

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Hezbollah networks have long intersected with Latin American narcotics trafficking, sanctions evasion, and money laundering. DEA investigations, such as Project Cassandra, documented these ties. Recent U.S. Treasury and State Department sanctions targeted Iranian shadow banking systems, front companies, shipping networks, and a "shadow fleet" used to move illicit oil and finance proxies. These financial and logistical tools sustain the broader apparatus of proxy warfare and criminal convergence.

BORDER AIRSPACE BREACHED: CARTEL DRONES TEST US DEFENSES AND RAISE NEW FEARS

The same operational logic applies elsewhere. Houthis disrupt Red Sea shipping with Iranian backing and deniability. Iran pressures energy markets via the Strait of Hormuz through harassment and proxies. In the Western Hemisphere, Iranian influence overlaps with Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles, transnational drug pipelines, and anti-Western networks involving Russia and China.

Not every cartel operative works for Tehran, but hostile actors routinely exploit the same permissive corridors.

This creates a growing mismatch: adversaries wage persistent, sub-threshold irregular warfare through networks, erosion, and exploitation of open societies, while America still thinks in binaries of "war" versus "peace," "foreign" versus "domestic," or "terrorism" versus "crime."

‘OPEN BORDERS’ UNDER BIDEN COULD HELP IRAN RETALIATE WITH US TERROR SLEEPER CELLS: FORMER FBI BOSS

The southern border is no longer just an immigration or law-enforcement issue. It has become a strategic access point into the U.S. homeland, where transnational networks exploit gaps in ways resembling irregular warfare environments. Inside the country, this expands beyond crime into homeland defense and critical infrastructure concerns.

The Al-Saadi case is not simply another terrorism investigation. It is a warning. Iran’s war against the West did not begin with any single operation, and it will not remain overseas simply because Americans refuse to recognize it. Proxy networks, criminal pipelines, migration corridors, maritime logistics, covert finance, and propaganda ecosystems continue adapting to extend reach while maintaining deniability.

Americans must reframe the debate. The threat is hybrid, networked, and already operating inside the strategic seams of the West.

Recognizing the conflict for what it is — a long-running asymmetric campaign already converging on the homeland — is the first step toward effective defense.

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AUSTIN, TX - President Donald Trump has a new target this week as he takes aim at Republican critics — longtime GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas.

Trump is targeting Cornyn as "VERY disloyal" as he backs Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a major Trump ally and MAGA firebrand, in Tuesday's combustible and expensive runoff election for the GOP Senate nomination in the right-leaning state. The ballot box showdown serves as the latest tests of Trump's immense grip over the Republican Party and the strength of his endorsements in GOP nomination races.

The winner of the runoff will face off against rising Democratic Party star state Rep. James Talarico in the general election in a race that is among a handful that may decide if the Republicans hold their slim 53-47 majority in the Senate. Talarico, who topped progressive star Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a vocal Trump critic, in the March primary, is trying to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades to win a Senate election in Texas.

The Senate contest is the most high-profile showdown on a ballot that also includes Democratic and Republican runoffs for Texas Attorney General, as well as key primary battles for four U.S. House seats, including a Democratic Party runoff in the 35th Congressional District where one of the two candidates in a social media post proposed converting an ICE detention center into a prison for American supporters of Israel.

TRUMP BACKS MAGA ALLY PAXTON IN TEXAS SHOWDOWN WITH CORNYN

Trump's targeting of Cornyn comes three weeks after the purging five state senators in Indiana's primary who had opposed his push for congressional redistricting, a week and a half after helping to oust Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — who five and a half years ago voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial - and one week after defeating vocal GOP critic Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky.

The Texas runoff is also being held one week after Trump endorsed Paxton, after sitting on the sidelines in the race for months.

"Ken is a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate," Trump wrote in a social media post last Tuesday.

The two heated rivals topped a crowded field of contenders in the early March primary, with Cornyn edging Paxton. But since neither cleared the 50% threshold, the nomination race headed into overtime.

Trump, in backing Paxton, said that "John Cornyn is a good man, and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough."

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Pointing to the senator's past criticism of him, Trump added, "John was very late in backing me in what turned out to be a Historic Run for the Republican Nomination, and then, the Presidency."

Cornyn, in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff, emphasized his support for the president and his agenda.

"President Trump has called me a friend and a good man, and we've worked with him closely for both terms of office," the senator said.

Paxton, who grabbed significant national attention the past dozen years by filing lawsuits against the Obama and Biden administrations, disagreed.

"John Cornyn fought Trump on the border. And you can go back over about a decade and see that he was not for the border wall," Paxton charged in an interview on Fox News' "The Big Weekend Show."

CONTENTIOUS REPUBLICAN SENATE PRIMARY IN TEXAS HEADED INTO OVERTIME

Paxton also argued that the senator "fought the president's reelection. He fought him in 2024, said his time had passed, and he fought him in 2016. So this is not a pro-Trump guy. I don't know if we could be more different on the Republican issues than John Cornyn and me. So there is a vast difference between the two of us."

Cornyn pushed back.

"I don't know how much more with him I could be than 99.3% of the time," the senator told Fox News Digital.

"I want him to be successful. I want America to be successful, and I want Republicans to be successful. But you know, in the end, as I said, Texans are the only ones going to be able to make a choice, and I think Texans can be pretty independent," Cornyn added.

Paxton has faced a slew of scandals and legal problems that have battered him over the past decade. In 2023, the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton, but he was eventually acquitted of all charges by the state senate.

And Paxton is dealing with a very messy divorce, with his wife citing "biblical grounds" based on "recent discoveries" in filing last year to end their marriage.

Cornyn, who is supported by Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has repeatedly argued that if Paxton is the GOP's nominee, the party will be forced to spend millions of dollars to keep the seat from flipping and that Republicans down-ballot will suffer.

"He's gotten more and more emboldened as he's gotten away with all the scandal and mischief that now is very well known, but were he to be the nominee and be exposed to general election voters, especially independents, I think it's going to be a very rocky time," the senator predicted.

TRUMP OWNS THE GOP - BUT WILL REPUBLICANS PAY A PRICE IN THE MIDTERMS?

And pointing to Talarico, who hauled in an eye-popping $27 million in fundraising during the first three months of this year, Cornyn said "there will be an incredible tsunami of Democratic funds coming in against Paxton, were he the nominee. Conversely...if I am the nominee...we'll be able to shoulder the burden pretty much on our own. I won my last general election by 10 points. I think I can do similarly against somebody who's as far left and radical as James Talarico."

While Paxton has shifted his ads to target Talarico in the wake of the Trump endorsement, Cornyn and allied groups continue to blast Paxton.

"I don't think anybody could honestly argue that we haven't fought hard to make the case here," Cornyn said of his campaign.

And he emphatically said he's "worked too long and too hard to help build the Republican Party in Texas, and in the United States Senate, and to keep Texas the envy of the nation when it comes to opportunities and pursuing the American dream, to let that go, to squander it, and let it go without a fight. So I'm still optimistic on the outcome, but obviously it depends on who shows up."

The other statewide runoff in Texas is for attorney general, in the race to succeed Paxton.

In the expensive GOP showdown, four-term Rep. Chip Roy is battling state Sen. Mayes Middleton, the president of an independent oil and gas company.

Middleton, who edged Roy in the March primary, has dished out roughly $17 million of his own money to back his campaign. But Roy, a former Texas assistant attorney general and former chief of staff to conservative Sen. Ted Cruz, received a late surge in fundraising from major backers.

"We've gotten the financial support necessary to compete with my self-funder opponent, who's got his inheritance money that he can just spend," Roy highlighted in a Fox News Digital interview on the eve of the runoff.

Roy has argued that Middleton's lack of courtroom experience would make him a poor attorney general.

"Having been the first assistant attorney general makes me ready on day one, but it's also that I've been a prosecutor, I've been in court, I've sat in front of a judge, stood in front of a judge, argued cases, and he has never done any of those things. And we think those things should matter," Roy emphasized.

Middleton has pushed back, questioning Roy's conservative credentials and run ads claiming Roy's "betrayed MAGA" as he's pointed to the times the congressman has broken with Trump over policy.

"Chip Roy has someone that has spent a decade fighting the president. He actually said President Trump committed impeachable conduct on the House floor," Middleton told Fox News Digital. "Instead of spending 10 years fighting President Trump, what have I done? I've spent 10 years, fighting to defeat the left, which is what matters the most in this race."

But Roy, responding, said "everyone knows that I'm a longtime defender and supporter of the president's agenda, of the America First agenda, the MAGA agenda, but I'm also an independent thinker who will stand up and make the case. And pointing to Middleton, Roy charged, "MAGA is not something you just buy. My opponent thinks you can buy the brand."

Middleton returned fire, arguing "Chip Roy is putting out there that he is a top ally to President Trump when the exact opposite is the case."

Roy, showcasing his electability, said "I beat Democrats before in a tough race" and that he "knows how to win."

The winner of the GOP runoff will likely face Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson, who came close to clinching his party's nomination in the primary. Johnson is facing off against former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.

Also in the spotlight are Democratic and GOP runoffs in the redrawn majority-Latino 35th Congressional District,

Democratic Party leaders are slamming housing activist and sex therapist Maureen Galindo for her Instagram post on imprisoning American Zionists at an ICE detention center. She added that the prison would have a castration facility for pedophiles, which she claimed would likely include "most of the Zionists.

She also said that her rival in the runoff, Bexar County Sheriff's Deputy Johnny Garcia, should be tried for treason over his support for Israel.

The comments have spurred support for Garcia, who's running as a moderate. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Texas Democratic Party, Talarico, and even progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have backed Garcia.

The winner of the Democratic primary will face off against either Republican state Rep. John Lujan or Carlos De La Cruz, an Air Force veteran and brother of Rep. Monica De La Cruz of Texas.

In the solidly blue, Houston-based 18th Congressional District, 78-year-old Democratic Rep. Al Green will face off with recently-elected 38-year-old Rep. Christian Menefee, for a seat redrawn last year by Republicans as part of their congressional redistricting push.

Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson is running against former Rep. Colin Allred in the Democratic-dominated, Dallas-based, 33rd Congressional District.

And in the newly drawn 9th Congressional District, a right-tilting seat in the Houston area, Trump-endorsed Army veteran Alex Mealer faces Abbott-endorsed state Rep. Briscoe Cain.

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