Paxton claps back at Cornyn after 'lazy' remarks

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this week hit back at Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, after the longtime senator accused him of being a "lazy" campaigner.

“John Cornyn doesn’t know my schedule. He doesn’t know how many hours I’m putting in every day, 18 hours a day,” he told Fox News on Sunday.

Cornyn lost his primary for reelection to Paxton, who is facing Democrat James Talarico in November. Cornyn placed first in the initial round of the primary, but failed to avoid a runoff. Paxton then offered to drop out if Cornyn could secure passage of a marquis voter ID bill. Cornyn did not do so and President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton in the runoff, leading to a decisive victory.

Since his defeat, Cornyn has repeatedly broken with the Trump administration and been a vocal critic of Paxton. Earlier in August, he called Paxton "lazy" and said he was poor at fundraising.

Cornyn notably spent roughly $100 million on his primary, to Paxton's $7 million.

Polling has shown a close race between Paxton and Talarico, though Texas is a reliably Republican state and a strong performance in other races could boost the GOP in the senatorial contest.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent for Just the News. Follow him on X.