MAGA-aligned U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, endorsed Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in his re-election bid against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, support that included attacks on Paxton during the primary.
After Paxton emerged as the clear winner in the bruising GOP primary runoff on Tuesday — with the help of President Trump’s late-stage endorsement — Scott swiftly amended his committee’s position.
Immediately after Paxton defeated Cornyn, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm deleted press releases and digital ads from its website that had attacked Paxton, and according to NOTUS, “each page critical of Paxton returned a 404 error on the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s website Wednesday morning.”
On Thursday, Scott wrote on social media: “There’s been no better warrior for our party than John Cornyn. I was blessed to have served with him and I look forward to his continued fight for our great country.”
He added, “But now I stand united with President Trump, Ken Paxton, and Texans who want to protect the Republican Majority.”
Tim Scott, NRSC chairman, announces endorsement of Ken Paxton, just under 24 hours since the race was called for Paxton and after months of the NRSC bashing Paxton and saying he was unfit for office pic.twitter.com/2UKN4YScdy
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 27, 2026
Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) replied to Scott: “You have fallen a long way from the guy i knew.”
MAGA supporters are also criticizing Scott for the switch. Influencer Andrea Kaye replied to Scott: “What a deeply disturbing yet revealing comment. He was a warrior for the ‘party’ not the voters. Which is what the voters are rejecting. You posers who pretend to be conservative but only care about amassing power for the uniparty not implementing the people’s agenda. You’re the clown who ran around during Trump’s first term pushing a book with Trey Gowdy instead of doing the job you were elected to do. You’re as odious as Cornyn.”