Paxton says he will stay in Texas Senate GOP runoff race even if Trump endorses Cornyn

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he'll stay in the Texas Senate GOP runoff race even if President Trump's endorsement's rival, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.

Trump said Wednesday he planned to make an endorsement and would urge the non-recipient to leave the race, to avoid a protracted primary battle.

"I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE! Is that fair? We must win in November!!!" Trump posted on Truth Social.

Paxton told "Just the News, No Noise" TV show on Wednesday that he would not drop out of the race if Trump doesn't endorse him. 

"No, I'm staying in this race," Paxton said. "I owe it to the people of Texas. I've spent a year of my life campaigning against John Cornyn, because John has not represented the people of Texas well.

"He sided with Joe Biden on Second Amendment restriction. He sided with Joe Biden on bringing Afghan refugees to settle here without vetting them. But he's been against Trump in both of his elections, said he shouldn't run last time, that his day had passed, and of course, he fought him on the border wall, he's been an amnesty guy. Everything that Trump stood for, John Cornyn's fought, but he was a big help to Joe Biden. The people of Texas, at least the Republicans, would like something different."

Paxton and Cornyn advanced to a May runoff election after neither of them received at least 50% of the vote in Tuesday's primary. With 98% of the vote reported as of Wednesday, Cornyn is in the lead at 41.9% to Paxton's 40.7%, according to The Associated Press.