By
Jack Fink
Aboard Air Force One over the weekend, President Donald Trump was asked if he’ll make an endorsement in the already hotly contested GOP primary battle between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The president said, “They’re both friends of mine, they’re both good men. We’ll make a determination at the right time.”
Longtime GOP Consultant Vinny Minchillo said there is no need for the president to pick sides this early.
“We still have a long way to go,” said Minchillo. “I do think the president will endorse in this race and I don’t think it’s going to come until the very end.”
When asked if that would be after the first of the year Vinchillo said, Yes.”
Paxton is close to the president, but Minchillo said Mr. Trump needs Cornyn’s help in the Senate to pass his tax and spending cuts.
“He’s helped him out in the Senate, and he will continue to help him out in the Senate and get the president’s agenda over the line,” said Minchillo.
The president also said he didn’t know if another candidate would get into the Republican primary.
One person who may be testing the waters is conservative Congressman Wesley Hunt of the Houston area.
A group supporting Hunt called Standing For Texas, has been running ads in the Lone Star State, including the Dallas-Fort Worth TV market and in West Palm Beach, Florida, home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
At a White House event last week, the president complimented Hunt about the ad, saying, “Wesley, I love your commercial.”
That comment came just hours before Paxton announced his campaign on Fox News Channel. Minchillo said if Hunt does enter the race, it would change the dynamic.
“I think he’s looking at this race hard,” said Minchillo. “Number one, he’d push it into a runoff, and number two, he would bring a whole new set of messages.”
When asked why Congressman Hunt would enter the race when two political titans are already in Minchillo said, “It’s a high-risk move for Wesley Hunt. I think in a lot of ways, he and Ken Paxton would be splitting the anti-Cornyn vote, so he would hope to get in a runoff probably against Cornyn.”
There is still plenty of time. Candidates will have to start filing their campaign paperwork in November for the March primary.
Watch Eye On Politics at 7:30 Sunday morning on CBS News Texas on air and streaming
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