On Monday, CBS’s Stephen Colbert alleged that the network forbade him from airing an interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico over concerns about a potential FCC equal time rule violation. On Tuesday, CBS denied the allegation and said The Late Show was not prohibited from airing the interview but gave Colbert advice on how equal time could be fulfilled, but The Late Show balked at the suggestions and opted to put the interview on YouTube instead. Later on Tuesday, Colbert declared that CBS’s lawyers know “damn well” that they approved every word he said.
Texas Senate Race
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he was surprised by Republican Texas Rep. Wesley Hunt’s decision to miss a critical vote Thursday while Republicans work to pass their agenda with a razor-thin majority.
Hunt, who is vying in a brutal three-way Texas Senate primary, was absent while House Republicans advanced a rule teeing up votes on four appropriations bills, including a measure funding the Department of Homeland Security. Though House Republicans did not end up needing Hunt’s vote to advance the funding bills, Republican leadership has voiced irritation about the Senate hopeful’s frequent absences while he campaigns ahead of the March 3 primary.
GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt announces run for U.S. Senate, joining Cornyn, Paxton in primary – The Texas Tribune
Source Link
Source Link
Excerpt:
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) trails Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) by 22 points in the state’s Republican Senate primary, according to a new poll released on Tuesday.
The survey, which was conducted by pollster Robert Blizzard on behalf of the Educational Freedom Institute and first obtained by Punchbowl News, showed Paxton leading Cornyn 50 percent to 28 percent among Republican primary voters.
Paxton expanded his lead among voters described as “very conservative GOP primary voters,” leading Cornyn 60 percent to 22 percent. Among voters described as “high propensity 3/3 GOP primary voters,” Paxton leads Cornyn by 30 points. The poll also showed Paxton leading Cornyn by 35 points among “MAGA voters” and by 12 points among senior voters.
The poll is the latest in a string of data points showing the incumbent senator trailing the conservative primary challenger. Last week, a poll from the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University showed Paxton leading in a hypothetical two-way contest with 43 percent to Cornyn’s 34 percent, and 23 percent unsure.
Source Link
Excerpt:
A new poll released Wednesday shows Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton with a commanding lead over incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in either a two-person race or a three-person race in next year’s Republican primary. But Paxton’s lead in the poll shrinks dramatically against potential Democratic rivals in the 2026 general election.
The poll from Texan Southern University’s Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center shows Paxton leading Cornyn by 9 percentage points in a two-person race and by 7 points if U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston enters the primary.
“Right now, if it’s a head-to-head race between Paxton and Cornyn, Paxton is a very strong favorite, and it’s tough to see how, absent, say, a Trump endorsement of Cornyn, Cornyn could effectively flip the table on Paxton,” said Mark Jones, political science fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute and co-author of the survey with TSU’s Michael O. Adams.
