Trump plays Texas hold ’em with Senate endorsement

Trump has not endorsed either candidate in Texas's May GOP Senate primary runoff between incumbent John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, despite MAGA activists pressing him to back Paxton and initial expectations of a Cornyn endorsement. Paxton recently met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, and multiple White House sources told POLITICO that Trump may withhold an endorsement entirely or delay one until after the Senate completes debate on the SAVE Act. The NRSC and Senate Leadership Fund are holding back spending for now, a move MAGA activists interpret as establishment capitulation, though Republican operatives say they're simply conserving resources. Paxton will headline CPAC's Ronald Reagan dinner Friday night in Grapevine, Texas, while Cornyn is not attending, giving the Paxton camp a high-profile platform as the runoff election approaches in roughly two months. Every Republican source cautioned that Trump could reverse course at any moment, making the endorsement race unpredictable despite polling that currently favors Paxton.