AUSTIN (Nexstar) — While visiting Austin on Thursday morning to rally around the extension of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn briefly discussed his 2026 re-election campaign and potential primary challenge.
“I’ve run in a lot of elections and I’ve always had a primary and have — fortunately — always been successful,” Cornyn said on the back patio of Wally’s Burger Express. “My last primary in 2020 I won by 76% of the vote and it’s like — you gotta earn it, you can’t take it for granted and I certainly have tried to do that.”
The remarks come a couple days after Attorney General Ken Paxton told Punchbowl News,
“(Cornyn’s) had his chance. He hasn’t performed well, and the voters know it.”
“I’m not thinking too much about 2026 now, I’m thinking about 2025,” Cornyn later said. “Now we need to do some important work and make sure that these tax benefits that (local business owners) are currently experiencing, that you’re all experiencing, don’t go away.”
Fighting for Trump tax cuts
The primary purpose of Paxton’s visit was to sit down with Wally’s Burger Express owner Robert Mayfield, Roadrunner Radiology owner Joni Jack and Young & Pratt, Inc. owner David Zern to discuss Trump’s “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.”
Cornyn visited the burger joint in Austin in January 2018, right after the tax cuts took effect. He said he doubled back to see how local businesses benefitted from the legislation in an effort to drum up support for its renewal. The current act expires on Dec. 31, 2025.
“Many of these small businesses would not be able to offer the benefits that they’re able to offer, they wouldn’t be able to hire the people that they need for their businesses to grow,” Cornyn said. “They wouldn’t be able to offer the fringe benefits and other things in an increasingly competitive job market to get good people to come and work.”
