Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), facing a serious primary challenge from his right, released a new campaign ad on Thursday calling “radical Islam” a “bloodthirsty ideology” that has influenced recent terror attacks targeting Jews.

“It fueled the unspeakable crimes on Oct. 7,” Cornyn says in the 30-second ad, called “Evil Face,” before citing the mass shooting last month during a Hanukkah gathering in Australia that was allegedly motivated by the terrorist group ISIS. “It showed its evil face again at Bondi Beach.”

Speaking directly to the camera, Cornyn touted his recent efforts to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit advocacy group whose executive director has drawn scrutiny for celebrating the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.

“Let me be clear: No organization that supports terrorists should receive taxpayer benefits,” Cornyn concludes in the ad. “And Sharia law has no place in American courts or communities.”

The seven-figure ad buy is now running statewide on broadcast, cable and digital platforms, according to the campaign.

The ad comes after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, issued a declaration last November designating CAIR as a foreign terrorist group as well as a “successor” to the Muslim Brotherhood effectively posing as a front for Hamas, prohibiting the organization from purchasing land in the state. 

The declaration allows the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, the right-wing Republican mounting a competitive challenge to Cornyn in the March primary, to sue to shut down the group and impose fines on its leaders.

CAIR, which called the proclamation defamatory and unconstitutional, has filed suit to challenge the designation, which Paxton has vowed to vigorously defend.

Following Abbott’s announcement, Cornyn, for his part, introduced legislation in the Senate in December that seeks to strip CAIR of its nonprofit status over its alleged support for terrorism. In a statement about the bill, Cornyn, who is seeking reelection to a fifth term, described the organization as “a radical group of terrorist sympathizers with a long history of undermining American values,” while endorsing the governor’s designation.

Both Cornyn and Paxton have otherwise boasted of their records supporting Israel and fighting the rise of antisemitism.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, following a recent move by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, signed an executive order on Monday designating the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist organizations.

The order instructs the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Highway Patrol to “undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities in Florida” by the Brotherhood or CAIR. It states that all executive and cabinet agencies may not provide “any contract, employment, funds, or other benefit or privilege” to either organization or individuals who have “provided material support or resources” to one or both groups. 

The order also directs the state’s Domestic Security Oversight Council to “conduct a comprehensive review of existing statutory authorities, regulations, and policies for addressing threats” from the Brotherhood and CAIR, and to “submit recommendations for any additional action needed” from the governor or the state legislature by Jan. 6, 2026. 

“The Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamist ideology is irreconcilable with foundational American principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness reflected in the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, especially including the right to religious freedom and the equal protection of the laws,” the order states. 

DeSantis said in a post on X on Monday, “Florida agencies are hereby directed to undertake all lawful measures to prevent unlawful activities by these organizations, including denying privileges or resources to anyone providing material support.”

CAIR and CAIR-Florida jointly responded to the order by vowing legal action against the DeSantis administration.

“We look forward to defeating Governor DeSantis’ latest Israel First stunt in a court of law, where facts matter and conspiracy theories have no weight,” the organizations said in a joint statement. “In the meantime, we encourage all Floridians and all Americans to speak up against this latest attempt to shred the Constitution for the benefit of a foreign government.”

The order comes less than a month after Abbott issued a similar declaration targeting both groups as foreign terrorist organizations, and weeks after President Donald Trump signed an executive order designating the Brotherhood as a foreign terrorist organization. 

On Capitol Hill, Republicans in the House and Senate are working on advancing standalone legislation reinstating the Brotherhood’s FTO designation, though House lawmakers recently stripped a key provision from their bill mandating the designation of eligible Muslim Brotherhood branches and the entire Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a declaration on Tuesday designating the Muslim Brotherhood and Council on American-Islamic Relations as foreign terrorist groups and transnational criminal organizations — a move that some lawmakers are pushing on the federal level.

The proclamation would ban both groups from buying or acquiring land in the state and allow the state’s attorney general to sue to shut down the two groups, and potentially impose fines on those involved.

Abbott’s proclamation notes the Muslim Brotherhood’s support to groups, including Hamas, that conduct terrorism in various countries, some of which have already been designated as terrorist groups, and that a series of countries have already imposed restrictions on their local Muslim Brotherhood branches.

The proclamation describes CAIR as a “successor organization” to the Muslim Brotherhood and an effective front group for Hamas in the United States and accuses the group of seeking to spread Sharia law in the country by infiltrating public office and other areas of public life.

It also notes that CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas financing case, and that a series of senior CAIR members have been involved in promoting or financing terrorism.

Responding in a statement on X, CAIR accused Abbott of doing the bidding of Israel and AIPAC donors and described the proclamation as defamatory.

“Unlike Mr. Abbott — who unleashed violence against Texas students protesting the Gaza genocide to satisfy his AIPAC donors — our civil rights organization is an independent voice that answers to the American people, relies on support from the American people, and opposes all forms of unjust violence, including hate crimes, ethnic cleansing, genocide and terrorism,” the group wrote.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a candidate for Texas attorney general, praised the announcement, saying he would enforce it if elected, and that CAIR should also be proscribed at the federal level.

“We must fully enforce and duplicate terror designation efforts at the federal level including strict immigration policy, stripping CAIR’s [501]c3 [tax-exempt] status, vet and remove Sharia,” Roy said.

Efforts to designate the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have seen little public progress at the federal level, both in Congress and in the executive branch.

Texas has become a particular locus of anti-Sharia law activity over concerns about a project to develop a new Muslim-focused community, known as EPIC City. The Department of Justice investigated the project for religious discrimination, but the DOJ ended its probe finding no wrongdoing. Texas has passed several laws designed to impede the project.