The stage is set in Grapevine, Texas, for the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), but only one of the state’s top Republican rivals will be behind the lectern. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has officially joined the speaker lineup for the event running from March 25-28, while a spokesperson for Senator John Cornyn confirmed he will not attend.
The Senator’s office cited a scheduling conflict, noting that the Senate will be in session and holding votes during the conference dates.
The two men are currently locked in a high-stakes runoff election scheduled for May 26. In the March 3 primary, Cornyn finished in the lead but failed to secure the majority required to avoid a second round of voting.
The winner will eventually face Democratic nominee James Talarico in the general election. This CPAC gathering represents a critical window for Paxton to address the party’s grassroots base, particularly as both candidates wait for a definitive endorsement from President Donald Trump.
CPAC leadership highlighted the internal party competition on Friday via social media, noting the differing legislative scores of the two candidates.
“With Sen. John Cornyn (85% CPAC Lifetime, 53% ‘24) and AG Ken Paxton (100% Lifetime) locked in a fierce Texas Senate runoff, we’ve invited both to address conservatives at CPAC in Texas,” the organization posted on X. The group also announced that the Cornyn-Paxton race would be featured as a specific ballot question in their straw poll conducted by Trump pollster Jim McLaughlin.
The legislative battle over the SAVE Act, a Trump-backed election integrity bill, continues to loom over the race. Trump indicated on Truth Social on March 4 that he would issue an endorsement “soon” and suggested the candidate who does not receive his backing should “immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!”
However, reports suggest the President has delayed that decision to focus on pressuring Senate Republicans to pass the voting legislation.
Both candidates have recently made moves to align with those legislative goals. On March 5, Paxton stated he would consider exiting the race if Senate leadership agreed to scrap the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act. Less than a week later, Cornyn authored an op-ed in the New York Post expressing his own support for nixing the filibuster to ensure the passage of the universal voter ID bill.
The conference itself has drawn recent attention beyond the Texas Senate race. Organizers faced scrutiny this week following the announcement that Steve Bannon would speak at the event.
The inclusion comes after Department of Justice filings released in late January detailed extensive past communication between Bannon and Jeffrey Epstein. Neither Paxton’s office nor CPAC leadership provided additional comments regarding the upcoming schedule or the speaker lineup.
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