Texas AG Ken Paxton and then-former President Trump in 2022. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has hired the prominent Republican consulting firm Axiom Strategies to run his primary campaign against GOP Sen. John Cornyn, according to people familiar with the matter.
Why it matters: Paxton’s challenge of the four-term senator — which he announced Tuesday on Fox News — is expected to be the GOP’s most expensive primary in 2026.
- Paxton has tapped Nick Maddux, who served as the chief political adviser in his 2022 campaign, to run his primary challenge.
- Sam Cooper, another Axiom consultant, is expected to lead an outside effort to elect Paxton.
- Jeff Roe, the firm’s founder, will not be personally involved, according to sources familiar with the planning. Axiom has long worked for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as well as Paxton.
The intrigue: Roe is among the party’s most controversial political operatives and is in a feud with Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita.
- Trumpworld’s disdain for Roe dates back to the 2024 Republican primary, when Roe ran an outside group backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
- Four days ago, Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s pollster, used the news that Axiom was laying off 10% of its workforce to mock Roe.
Zoom out: The Republican party is bracing for a slugfest in Texas, with two state-wide elected officials, both with deep fundraising networks, preparing to go toe-to-toe in a state Trump won by 14 percentage points in November.
- Tim Scott, the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has pledged that his organization will support GOP incumbents.
- But he has vowed to stay in close consultation with Trump on the best way to avoid nasty intra-party fights.
- “We want to make sure that the president and I are on the same page on these issues,” Scott told Axios last month.
