Trump endorses Texas AG Ken Paxton for Senate, citing support for SAVE Act

When President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he was endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) in Texas’ U.S. Senate primary over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R), he appeared to have one thing at the front of his mind: the SAVE America Act.

The stridently anti-voting bill would impose strict proof of citizenship requirements and, if Trump gets his way, all but eliminate mail voting. The president has called it his “No. 1 priority.”

But it would also likely require Senate Republicans to eliminate or upend the filibuster to push it through, something they have been unwilling to do so far.

In a social media post endorsing Paxton, Trump highlighted the Texas attorney general’s full-throated support for passing SAVE — no matter what it takes.

“I know Ken well, have seen him tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and he is a WINNER!” Trump wrote. “Ken is a Strong Supporter of TERMINATING THE FILIBUSTER and, very importantly, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT, something which polls at 87%, including Dumocrats, and yet can’t seem to get approved.”

The House passed the SAVE America Act in February. But the bill never made it through the Senate because Republicans were unwilling to eliminate the filibuster.

Despite that, Trump has continued to call for Republicans to ram it through, including by attaching it to other legislation.

The endorsement further emphasizes Trump’s fixation on passing the extreme voter suppression bill — and his willingness to harm the Republican Party’s electoral chances in the process.

In the Texas Senate race, Republicans face a serious Democratic challenger in Texas state Rep. James Talarico. And it comes during a year when Trump’s cratering poll numbers are dragging the GOP’s midterm prospects down with them.

Trump’s advisors and Senate leaders have urged him to endorse Cornyn, arguing that Paxton carried too much political baggage, the Washington Post reported.

But Cornyn was slow to back the idea of sidelining the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act. And he only came around after Paxton performatively offered to drop out of the race if Senate Republicans agreed to change the filibuster rules and passed the bill.

The Senate GOP didn’t take Paxton up on that offer, but the move may have curried favor with Trump and helped the attorney general to secure the endorsement.

But the decision has now angered some Senate Republicans, with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) telling journalists that the president’s choice “puts that seat in jeopardy.” 

And it signals that SAVE is very much still on the table — for Trump, at least.