President Donald Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s primary challenge against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Tuesday, dealing a significant blow to Cornyn’s bid for a fifth term.

Trump announced the Paxton endorsement in a post on Truth Social a week before the runoff election, writing that while Cornyn “is a good man,” the senator was insufficiently “supportive of me when times were tough.” He pointed to Cornyn’s late backing of his presidential bids and his aversion to terminating the filibuster in the Senate in order to pass the president’s Save America Act. 

The president argued that Paxton, on the other hand, “is a true MAGA warrior who has ALWAYS delivered” for Texans, calling him “someone who has always been extremely loyal to me and our AMAZING MAGA MOVEMENT.”

The endorsement makes Paxton the odds-on favorite to win the Republican nomination, given Trump’s track record of success with his endorsed candidates in primaries. Cornyn narrowly finished ahead of Paxton in the first round of balloting in March with 42% of the vote, while Paxton received 41%. 

If Paxton wins the May 26 runoff, Democrats plan to invest millions behind their nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, who is trying to become the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Texas since 1988. General election polling indicates that a matchup between Talarico and Paxton — who carries significant legal and ethical baggage — would be highly competitive. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters Tuesday that he thought the race would be three times more expensive with Paxton as the nominee. “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the pathway for Paxton is there, but it’s more uphill.” Graham said.

Paxton thanked the president for his endorsement on X, saying “he look[s] forward to championing his American First agenda in the Senate.” In March, Paxton said that he would consider withdrawing from the race if Senate GOP leadership, who were lobbying the president to endorse Cornyn, agreed to get rid of the filibuster to pass the Save America Act, Trump’s election security bill. GOP leadership did not seriously consider Paxton’s offer, two sources familiar with the matter told JI.

Cornyn, in a statement, said that he has  “worked closely with President Trump through both of his presidential terms and voted with him more than 99% of the time,” claiming Trump has “consistently called me a friend in this race.” 

“It is now time for Texas Republican voters to decide if they want a strong nominee to help our GOP candidates down ballot and defeat [Democratic state. Rep James] Talarico in November, or a weak nominee who jeopardizes everything we care about,” Cornyn continued.

Cornyn, who was first elected in 2002, warned in an interview with Jewish Insider in February that the GOP is at risk of being overrun by extremists if prominent conservatives continue to align themselves with fringe figures who espouse antisemitic views, and attacked Paxton for appearing on Steve Bannon’s podcast.

“To maintain the integrity of conservatives, that’s why it’s so important to call out and to cut out some of these cancers that I think ultimately would result in the failure of the conservative movement,” Cornyn said.

“I know Ken Paxton regularly goes on Bannon’s ‘War Room’ podcast, and it’s something that should be alarming to Texas voters. People like that I don’t think are what I would call conservatives.” 

The first round of direct talks between Israel and Lebanon has been received positively by diplomats, pro-Israel lawmakers and experts, who see it as a sign of Hezbollah’s waning influence in Lebanon. But despite the optimism surrounding the discussions, experts caution that disarming the terrorist group remains a daunting obstacle that stands in the way of any meaningful change — one that would require a significant shift from the Lebanese government and its armed forces.

On Tuesday, Israeli and Lebanese leadership convened at the State Department in Washington for the highest-level direct discussions in more than 30 years, aiming to outline a framework for “lasting peace” and a “permanent end” to Hezbollah’s influence, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) told Jewish Insider that “it is great” that talks are taking place, expressing hope that “the Lebanese government, the United States and the Israeli government make a deal, and collectively, they push Hezbollah out.”

“That way the Lebanese people can be freed from the Iranian extremism that they have in their country,” Moskowitz said. “The Lebanese people are being held captive by the Iranian government because of Hezbollah. It’s obviously good for the United States, it’s good for Israel, but more importantly, I think it’s good for the people of Lebanon. I think disarming Hezbollah is obviously key to all this.”

Moskowitz added that while the Lebanese government appears to want to disarm Hezbollah, “they probably need help.”

“It’s not going to happen overnight, but I think it’s historic, and this is what the entire region wants,” he said. “This is what the Gulf states want. Everybody wants to come out of the extremism and the terrorism that Iran is trying to spread in the region.”

Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) similarly told JI that Hezbollah disarmament is an important factor in talks. 

“Why would you have talks if they [Hezbollah] are not going to disarm?” Scott said. “I’m not the prime minister of Israel but my condition would be that Hezbollah has got to disarm.”

Scott dismissed the notion that the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Armed Forces have not done enough to disarm the group, stating that the main problem is “not caused by Lebanon or by the military of Lebanon, it’s caused by Hezbollah.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said that disarming Hezbollah should be a “red line” for Israel in talks. He added that Israel “needs a buffer zone so Hezbollah can’t continue to rain down terror on Israelis.”

“Hezbollah has historically been the best trained, best equipped opponents to Israel,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said. “Israel’s done a great job with them over the last two years, but they’re hardcore fervent believers in destroying Israel.” 

Experts similarly described the talks as a meaningful development. John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, called the discussions an “important breakthrough” and a sign of Hezbollah’s diminishing influence.

“Everyone should welcome the opening of a direct political dialogue between Israel and Lebanon,” Hannah said. “The fact that [the talks are] occurring at all is an important sign of Hezbollah’s declining hegemony over the Lebanese state.”

Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, described the talks as a “win-win-win” in a social media post, adding that Hezbollah emerged as a “big loser.”

“Today is a day to celebrate — we all saw a glimpse of what is possible after so much violence and conflict,” Satloff wrote on Tuesday. “That is a very good thing.”

Still, experts say disarming Hezbollah, which parties agree is necessary for any lasting piece, remains highly difficult and uncertain.

Even before Tuesday’s opening round of discussions, Hezbollah senior member Wafiq Safa said Hezbollah is “not bound” by any deals reached between Israel, Lebanon and the United States.

“It’s hard to be an optimist when it comes to the core question of Hezbollah’s disarmament,” Hannah said. “Even after all that’s been done over the past few years to weaken the group and its Iranian sponsors — including the loss of its legitimacy in the eyes of a majority of Lebanese — it’s not at all apparent that the raw balance of forces inside Lebanon has shifted sufficiently to favor Hezbollah’s near-term demise.”

Hannah described disarming Hezbollah as “worth trying,” but ultimately a “long shot.”

“Since the war against Iran broke out on Feb. 28, Hezbollah has shown through its sustained attacks on Israel that, while much diminished, its forces retain far more significant capabilities than many believed,” he said. “And in the wake of its battle against Israel, Hezbollah is making clear that if push comes to shove, it’s prepared to burn down the state before surrendering its weapons.”

Blaise Misztal, JINSA’s vice president for policy, said the task cannot be accomplished through Israeli military action alone and will ultimately depend on whether Lebanon and the LAF are willing to act.

“[Disarming Hezbollah] can only be fully done by a strong and committed Lebanese government,” Misztal said. “Israel can secure southern Lebanon with ground operations and strike Hezbollah sites in Beirut or the Bekaa Valley, but that will merely distance and degrade the threat, never fully remove it.”

“The question is whether the Lebanese government is, or can be convinced to be, strong and committed enough to take on the task of asserting its control over its own territory,” he added. “Thus far, it has failed to demonstrate either the political will or military capability to do so.”

Hannah similarly noted that “Israel is rightly unwilling to pay the necessary cost in blood, treasure and diplomatic opprobrium” required to fully dismantle Hezbollah, leaving the responsibility to Lebanon and its armed forces.

“The factor that has truly held Lebanon back from disarming Hezbollah has been Hezbollah’s retention of, as far as we can tell, overwhelming support among Lebanese Shiites,” David Daoud, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said. “Having retained that popular support, it can deter the government from pursuing forcible disarmament by dangling the threat of civil war.”

But experts weren’t optimistic that the Lebanese government and LAF are capable — or willing — to take on that role. Hannah said Lebanon’s military “doesn’t appear to have the stomach to truly confront Hezbollah and dismantle the group’s armed wing,” noting that it has already “failed” to disarm the group in southern Lebanon, “much less the rest of the country.”

“It seems even less likely than before the Iran war that the LAF would now be willing to take on the risk of massively confronting Hezbollah,” he said, “in spite of the misery Hezbollah’s unilateral decision to enter the conflict on Iran’s behalf is now inflicting on the rest of Lebanon.”

David Daoud, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, also said Beirut “ultimately holds the key” to resolving the issue of Hezbollah’s disarmament. He said that while Lebanon has taken “immense and commendable” steps in “proscribing Hezbollah’s military activities,” the country’s “unwillingness to act against Hezbollah has been missing from the equation” and has “allowed the group to regenerate in the past.”

He added that Hezbollah still “retains enough military strength to make disarmament daunting” for Lebanese forces and the LAF, and that the group continues to wield significant political power.

“The factor that has truly held Lebanon back from disarming Hezbollah has been Hezbollah’s retention of, as far as we can tell, overwhelming support among Lebanese Shiites,” Daoud said. “Having retained that popular support, it can deter the government from pursuing forcible disarmament by dangling the threat of civil war.”

Daoud also raised concerns about Lebanon’s intentions in negotiations, arguing that Beirut may not truly be seeking meaningful change.

“A good test will be the extent to which the LAF fulfills the Lebanese government’s order from early April to put all of Beirut under its full control,” John Hannah, a senior fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, said. “Will the LAF truly confront and disarm Hezbollah in the capital or simply repeat the phony disarmament it claimed to have completed in the south?”

“Lebanon is seeking to use the negotiations to return to the status quo, and is willing to ‘pay the price’ of a joint photograph with an Israeli ambassador to achieve that objective,” he said. “This is because the situation in Lebanon is indeed dire — economic collapse compounded by war, the direct impact of the war itself and the emergence of sectarian tensions that could boil over into full-on conflict.”

If those dynamics remain unchanged, he warned that Hezbollah could indefinitely delay disarmament and eventually rebuild its strength.

“A good test will be the extent to which the LAF fulfills the Lebanese government’s order from early April to put all of Beirut under its full control,” Hannah said. “Will the LAF truly confront and disarm Hezbollah in the capital or simply repeat the phony disarmament it claimed to have completed in the south?”

Satloff said the challenge will ultimately require translating diplomacy into “practical steps,” including a shift in how the Lebanese military approaches disarmament.

“While some of this can happen in the negotiating room when the parties meet again, nothing can substitute for strong measures by the Lebanese state to isolate, weaken, delegitimize and disarm Hezbollah while promoting the idea of peace,” he said.

He suggested that turning Beirut into a “true weapons-free zone” is necessary “but not sufficient,” pointing to additional steps such as removing Hezbollah officials from government, expelling Iranian operatives from the country and shutting down the group’s financial and institutional networks.

A new ad by Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) reelection campaign will hit his runoff primary opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, over his ties to far-right commentator Tucker Carlson, pointing to Carlson’s criticisms of President Donald Trump, while also honing in on his attacks against Trump’s support for Israel and the war in Iran.

The minute-long ad — a five-figure buy set to begin airing on digital platforms on Friday, Jewish Insider has learned — appears to be one of the first mentions of Carlson as a target in GOP primary campaigns.

The ad opens by highlighting Trump’s support for Israel and efforts to counter Iran, contrasting that with Carlson, whom the ad states is “attacking our president for keeping America and Israel safe,” including a clip of Carlson describing the Iran war as “vile, on every level.”

It highlights that Trump had attacked Carlson as a “low IQ person” and a “fool” before playing a clip of Paxton appearing on Carlson’s show, in which Carlson expresses his support for the attorney general. “Ken Paxton still accepts Tucker Carlson’s endorsement,” the ad intones.

“Ken Paxton is taking Carlson’s side over President Trump,” the ad claims. “President Trump and MAGA stand with Israel. Ken Paxton and Tucker Carlson stand for nothing.”

Paxton has, in fact, been strongly supportive of the war in Iran and of Israel and has not expressed similar views to Carlson on the subject.

The ad closes with what appears to be an AI-generated selfie depicting Carlson and Paxton, next to a running money counting machine — a reference to corruption scandals involving Paxton, which Cornyn has highlighted on the campaign trail.

“It’s time for the crook to renounce the fool,” the ad’s narrator states.

Recent public polling has found Paxton with a narrow lead over Cornyn in the runoff, even though he trailed Cornyn in the three-person GOP primary last month. While Trump was, at one point, expected to endorse a candidate for the runoff race to clear the field, he has not yet done so.

Facing a heated primary against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) accused his right-wing challenger on Thursday of associating with antisemitic and anti-Israel voices within the MAGA movement. 

Cornyn told Jewish Insider in a wide-ranging interview that Texas Republican voters should view Paxton’s associations with figures such as former Trump advisor Steve Bannon as “alarming” — while urging Republicans to call out antisemitic and anti-Israel voices within the party, along the lines of his outspoken Texas GOP colleague Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

“There’s this interesting, and troubling, tendency of some folks who claim the MAGA mantle to associate with antisemites like Nick Fuentes, Candace Owens and Steve Bannon. I know Ken Paxton regularly goes on Bannon’s ‘War Room’ podcast, and it’s something that should be alarming to Texas voters. People like that I don’t think are what I would call conservatives,” Cornyn said. 

“Once they “get their foot in the door, they have a way of corrupting the whole party and the whole movement,” he continued. “I just think allowing somebody like Ken Paxton inside the tent will end up being the destruction of the Republican Party.”

Paxton has been a guest on Bannon’s “War Room” podcast on numerous occasions in recent years, even as Bannon has made a number of controversial comments, most notably labeling popular Jewish conservative podcast host Ben Shapiro as a “cancer” on the party after he spoke out against Tucker Carlson and Owens’ antisemitism at a Turning Point USA conference last year.

Bannon has also ramped up attacks on Israel, calling the Jewish state a “protectorate” of the United States — while speaking out against President Donald Trump’s decision last year to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. 

A spokesperson for Paxton defended the Texas attorney general’s record on Israel and fighting antisemitism in a statement to JI. 

“AG Paxton has been a fierce friend of Israel,” the spokesperson said. “After spending $70 million and still being double digits behind in the polls, Sen. Cornyn has nothing else left but to throw random attacks at the wall and see if they stick. AG Paxton has a STRONG and unquestionable record standing against antisemitism.”

Cornyn is facing a tough reelection battle against Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX), both of whom are running to his right in next month’s Republican primary.

The senator, a fixture in Texas politics for nearly four decades who served at the top levels of Senate leadership, argued that his primary contest would help determine what it means to be an electable Republican at a time when the party’s principles and values are being debated internally. 

“A lot of it [the GOP primary election] is going to boil down to a question of character. I think character still matters and the attorney general doesn’t believe it matters at all,” Cornyn said. “I just can’t in good conscience turn over this job representing 32 million people and a state that I love and a party that I helped build over my career, I can’t turn it over to a corrupt and unprincipled individual like the attorney general.”

Cornyn warned that the GOP is at risk of being overrun by extremists if prominent conservatives continue to align themselves with fringe figures who espouse antisemitic views, drawing a comparison to his assessment of the current ideological trajectory of the Democratic Party. 

“It starts out with the old saying: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. A lot of these folks were opposed to a lot of the worst excesses of the Democratic Party and the leftists. They began to corrode that movement with things like antisemitism and graft and greed. I think that’s how credibility of the opposition was eroded, by failing to call out people like that,” Cornyn said. 

“To maintain the integrity of conservatives, that’s why it’s so important to call out and to cut out some of these cancers that I think ultimately would result in the failure of the conservative movement,” he continued. “Because people could point to the corruption that was allowed to develop and thus undermine the credibility and integrity of the whole movement.”

Cornyn praised Cruz for “being one of the first to stand up and call out some of the fringe characters,” and criticized Republicans who associate themselves with far-right figures. 

“I’ve tried to do my part, initially through an editorial in the Dallas Morning News. I know this is a cancer, because antisemitism is just another way of dehumanizing people, and then using that behavior to justify in some people’s minds acts of violence,” the GOP senator said. “Obviously, the history of the Jewish people, dating back to the Holocaust, has been one of opponents trying to dehumanize them and make them seem to be something less than equal in terms of their dignity and their right to exist.”

Asked whether Trump would back him before the March primary, Cornyn told JI that he did not expect an endorsement, adding that he was dealing with “a lot of misinformation and lies.”

“I’ve been supportive of the president and his policies. Unfortunately, you always have to contend with a lot of misinformation and lies in modern elections,” Cornyn explained. “He [Trump] said he considers all three of us [GOP candidates] to be friends. If your base is divided among three people, choosing one out of those three people and disappointing the supporters of the other two, I can understand [that being] not something he would want to necessarily embrace unless he felt like it’s worth the cost.”

Cornyn argued that he would be the strongest general election candidate between himself, Paxton and Hunt, whereas Paxton would “ultimately provide the Democrats the best opportunity they’ve had since 1994 to turn Texas blue.”

“President Trump desperately wants to maintain the majority in the House, and we’ve got five new congressional seats in Texas,” he said. “If I’m the nominee, I will provide some help to those downballot races since I’ll be at the top of the ballot. I won by 10 [points] in 2020. If Paxton is the nominee, he’ll either lose or win by the skin of his teeth.”

Asked about Texas state Rep. James Talarico and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), the Democrats in the race, Cornyn suggested he would enjoy running against either in a general election.

“They should be running for Senate in California because they are totally out of step with where I think Texans are,” he said. 

Cornyn added that he would not underestimate Crockett.

“I wouldn’t count out Jasmine. Jasmine is smart, but I think she’s not running as good a campaign as Talarico,” Cornyn said. “Talarico is raising a lot of money, and he definitely has a better organization than Jasmine does.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) warned on Thursday that the U.S. needs to continue to monitor the “shifting loyalties” of Saudi Arabia, amid concerns that Riyadh is pivoting away from its traditional allies and toward Islamist actors. 

The Texas senator, who serves on the Senate intelligence Committee and foreign relations committees, told Jewish Insider that while he supports the Trump administration working to add Saudi Arabia to the Abraham Accords, the U.S. should be cognizant of “shifting loyalties and alliances there.”

“The Abraham Accords were a huge and important development, and I think it’s something worth continuing to try to expand and encourage, but I think we have to go in with our eyes open and realize there’s a lot of shifting and maybe even divided loyalties occurring in this region,” Cornyn told JI. 

“Qatar has been problematic for all sorts of reasons that we all know, playing both ends against the middle, and I think Saudi Arabia is probably looking to figure out how to gain advantage, but my hope would be that we continue to put pressure on Iran and its proxies, which we’ve done,” he continued.

Talking to JI a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House sitdown with President Donald Trump that largely focused on Iran, Cornyn said that he was skeptical of the regime’s ability to conduct diplomacy with the U.S. or honor the terms of any agreement. 

“I think diplomacy is destined to fail because they’re not going to live up to one sentence, one word of any negotiated agreement, so they can be depended on to cheat. They are determined to destroy Israel and start a war in the Middle East. I know the president is taking it very seriously,” the GOP senator said. “I think the president is preserving all of his options, but again, how do you negotiate with somebody who cheats and who will not abide by any part of any negotiated agreement?”

“I don’t think it necessarily hurts at least to suggest that there may be some negotiations that could occur, but again, I don’t expect Iran to stand behind any negotiated outcome. I think given their commitment to the destruction of Israel, and obviously they are an ideological movement, a theocracy,” he added. “Negotiating with somebody like that is asking them to change who they are, and that will never happen.”

Despite this, Cornyn argued that it was important for the U.S. to “acknowledge that any military action against the regime in Iran would likely spill over to other places.”

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.

James Talarico, a Democratic state representative in Texas seen as a rising star in his party, launched a campaign for Senate on Tuesday, joining a crowded primary to claim the seat held by veteran Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

The 36-year-old former public school teacher, who has studied to become a Presbyterian minister, has drawn national attention for openly embracing his Christian faith to connect with voters. In his launch video, he referred to Jesus, invoking him as “a barefoot rabbi who gave two commandments: love God and love neighbor.”

“Two thousand years ago, when the powerful few rigged the system, that barefoot rabbi walked into the seat of power and flipped over the tables of injustice,” Talarico added. “To those who love our country, to those who love our neighbors: It’s time to start flipping tables.”

Talarico, who is calling for a generational shake-up in a party he sees as largely out of touch with voter concerns, until this week had no apparent record of public commentary on Middle East policy, a subject that is likely to stir debate in the upcoming election cycle amid Democratic divisions over Israel’s war in Gaza.

In interviews published on Tuesday, he indicated that he would adopt a more critical approach to Israel, calling the war a “moral disaster” that his party has failed to address. “One of the primary reasons that the Democratic Party lost young voters in particular last election was our party’s failure to recognize the moral disaster in Gaza, and I hope that we have leaders who recognize that mistake,” he said in comments to Punchbowl News that were echoed in an interview with The Washington Post.

He also declined to say, in an interview with HuffPost, if he believes that Israel’s military conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide, dismissing the question as a debate “within elite political circles” that distracts “from the immediate goal, which is stopping the human suffering in Gaza.”

And on specific legislation, Talarico passed on commenting on Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) recent resolutions seeking to block U.S. military aid to Israel, saying he was unfamiliar with the measures, which won support from a majority of the Democratic caucus. He said broadly that the party’s approach to Israel “needs to entail action,” but did not elaborate further.

His comments, notable for a Senate candidate in a solidly conservative and deeply evangelical state, underscore how the party is now shifting away from its long-standing support for Israel as it reckons with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and declining Democratic Party voter sympathy for the Jewish state, according to polls.

Talarico’s campaign said he was unavailable for an interview with Jewish Insider on Tuesday to expand on his new comments about Israel and the direction of the party.

His views could draw attacks from Republicans — who are already highlighting his favorable remarks regarding Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City and vehement critic of Israel.

In next year’s primary, Talarico, whose profile rose over the summer after he appeared on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast, is facing former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who unsuccessfully opposed Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last election, and Terry Virts, a former astronaut, among other Democrats. 

While Allred has previously voiced strong support for Israel and its alliance with the United States, he argued last year that Israel’s military aims in its war in Gaza could not achieve any further practical goals and that the U.S. should consider withholding some aid to pressure Israel to finalize a ceasefire deal with Hamas.

Even as he has railed against billionaire Republican donors, Talarico has previously accepted campaign donations from a super PAC in Texas funded by the pro-Israel GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, thanks to his support for legalizing casino gambling within the state. 

Adelson, who was one of President Donald Trump’s biggest donors in the last election, has also donated to Cornyn, now seeking to fend off a challenge from Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general.

A representative for Adelson did not respond to a message from JI seeking comment on Tuesday.

Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced bipartisan legislation last week aimed at eliminating loopholes used by museums and other stakeholders to continue possessing Nazi-looted artwork that Jewish families have been trying to recover.

Introduced on Thursday, the Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act would expand on Cornyn’s 2016 legislation of the same name, which was passed at the time by unanimous consent, by ending the Dec. 31, 2026, sunset date on the original bill and strengthen the existing procedural protections to ensure that victims’ claims are not dismissed due to non-merit-based factors such as time constraints. 

“The artwork wrongfully ripped from Jewish hands during the Holocaust bears witness to a chapter in history when evil persisted and the worst of humanity was on full display. I’m proud to introduce this legislation to support the Jewish people and Holocaust survivors by helping them recover art confiscated by the Nazis that they are rightfully owed and give them the justice and restitution they deserve,” Cornyn said in a statement. 

“The theft of art by the Nazi regime was more than a pilfering of property — it was an act of inhumanity. Our bipartisan effort seeks to strengthen measures to bring long overdue justice to families whose cherished art was brazenly stolen by the Nazis,” Blumenthal said. 

Many families of Holocaust victims in the U.S. who have located artwork from deceased relatives and sued to recover those items face the deadline at the end of next year before the statute of limitations sets in. Thousands of stolen works of art remain unreturned to their rightful owners from the Nazi plunder, and there are scores of ongoing cases to resolve disputes over ownership of those items. 

“Unfortunately, many museums, governments, and institutions have contradicted Congress’ intent and obstructed justice by stonewalling legitimate claims, obscuring provenance, and employing aggressive legal tactics designed to exhaust and outlast Survivors and their families. Rather than embracing transparency and reconciliation, too many have chosen to entrench and litigate, effectively preserving possession of stolen works rather than returning them to their rightful owners,” a press release for the bill states.

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), John Fetterman (D-PA), Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Katie Britt (R-AL) co-sponsored the bill, which was endorsed by a number of Jewish organizations including Agudath Israel of America, the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Federations of North America, StandWithUs and World Jewish Congress, among others. 

“This legislation helps to right a historic wrong committed during one of the darkest chapters in history. By eliminating unnecessary legal obstacles, the HEAR Act establishes a clear path to restitution for Holocaust survivors and their families, ensuring that art and cultural property stolen by the Nazis can finally be returned to their rightful owners,” Tillis said.

Fetterman said in a statement, “Eighty years after the Holocaust, we have a moral responsibility to do right by the victims of these atrocities and their families. I’m grateful to join my colleagues from both sides of the aisle in introducing the HEAR Act to help return artwork stolen by the Nazis to its rightful owners.”

The decision by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to challenge Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the state’s GOP primary is not only setting up a blockbuster contest between two Texas heavyweights, but is testing what it means to be a conservative Republican at a time when the party’s principles and values are rapidly shifting.

The contest pits Cornyn, a fixture in Texas politics for nearly four decades who served at the top levels of Senate leadership, against Paxton, the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general and a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, in what is expected to be one of the highest-profile – and costly – intra-party fights this cycle. 

“It’s going to be really nasty and really expensive,” Matt Mackowiak, a Republican political consultant and the former chairman of the Travis County GOP, told Jewish Insider of the race. “Paxton is going to have to prosecute an intense, negative case that resonates with primary voters, but Cornyn is going to also prosecute a negative case with primary voters too.”

Cornyn has the support of many leading Republicans in Washington, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). The committee endorsed Cornyn’s reelection, and has lobbied Trump to back the incumbent. 

Cornyn is also one of the top fundraisers in the party: He spent over $33 million for his 2020 Senate reelection bid, and banked over $4.1 million in his campaign account at the end of last year. A hotly contested primary could require nearly $100 million, especially if Democrats plan to contest the seat amid the GOP divide.

One of the Republicans staying on the sidelines is Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Cornyn’s more-outspoken Senate counterpart. Cruz offered an early endorsement of Cornyn well before his last reelection campaign in 2020, while Cornyn raised money for Cruz during the senator’s competitive race last year against Democrat Colin Allred. (Cruz, who has close ties with both Republicans, didn’t weigh in for Paxton during his 2022 reelection when he faced a spirited primary challenge from George P. Bush.)

“Both John and Ken are friends of mine, I have worked closely with both of them. I respect them both and I trust the voters of Texas to make that decision,” Cruz told reporters at the Capitol last week. 

In Paxton’s corner is Axiom Strategies, the Texas-based GOP consultancy founded by Jeff Roe, who is a close confidante of Cruz. While Roe is not personally involved with the Paxton campaign, his work as a top strategist for Ron DeSantis’ 2024 presidential super PAC could hurt Paxton’s ability to secure a Trump endorsement.

Paxton has also received two early endorsements from a pair of House Republicans, Reps. Lance Gooden (R-TX) and Troy Nehls (R-TX). 

Surrogates for both Cornyn and Paxton have been lobbying Trump and top White House officials to endorse their respective candidates, according to several sources familiar with the political efforts. Republican operatives advocating for a Cornyn endorsement have “expressed concerns to the White House that Paxton’s run would threaten Trump’s Republican Senate majority” and have highlighted his campaign’s ties to Axiom, one source said. 

“The specter of Trump’s involvement kind of hangs over this thing,” Mackowiak said, noting that whether he weighs in and whom he throws his weight behind would “fundamentally” impact the outcome.

Brendan Steinhauser, a Texas GOP operative and partner with Steinhauser Strategies, said that Trump’s decision to withhold his endorsement, which he described as “huge” and “potentially decisive in a race like this,” suggests there isn’t a clear favorite in the contest.

“[Trump] wants to back a winner,” Steinhauser told JI. “I just really think he’s going to stay out of it. There’s no reason for him to get involved in this. He has what he wants from both of these guys, and that is that they’re in lockstep politically. They’re loyal to the president. They’re going to be good foot soldiers for him. Why does he care who it is?”

Cornyn is expected to target Paxton over his many controversies in office, including accusations of bribery and other misuse of public resources, which led to his impeachment by the Texas House and a federal investigation. He was acquitted by the Texas Senate. Prior to serving in office, he was indicted on securities fraud charges, which were later dropped as part of a settlement agreement. Paxton has denied any wrongdoing on the corruption charges.

The Texas senator and his allies argue Paxton being the party’s nominee will put the state in play for Democrats, forcing national Republicans to allocate resources to an otherwise red state that could be used for races where Democrats are on defense. In last year’s Texas Senate race, Cruz spent over $103 million to fend off a serious challenge from Allred.

Paxton, meanwhile, is expected to focus his campaign messaging attacking Cornyn’s involvement in the successful 2022 bipartisan effort to enact gun control restrictions on individuals convicted of misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence, also known as the “boyfriend loophole,” and his support for arming Ukraine in its war with Russia, two issues that put the Texas senator at odds with the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. 

In a video announcing his campaign to unseat him, Paxton cited Cornyn’s comments in 2023 describing the charges against Trump related to his handling of classified documents as “very serious” and his prediction that same year that he did not believe Trump “could win the presidency” after being found liable for sexual abuse in a civil case. Cornyn’s relationship with Trump has improved since 2023, the result of the Texas senator doing considerable outreach to the president while he was running to be Senate Republican leader last year. 

A source familiar with the thinking of the leadership at Axiom cited Cornyn’s lack of “intensity” with the Republican base as a main reason for him being vulnerable to Paxton’s challenge. 

An internal poll by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, commissioned by political allies of Paxton, showed Paxton leading Cornyn by over 20 points, findings Axiom sources point to as another reason for confidence that the incumbent senator is beatable. (The polling firm is also used by the Trump campaign.)

A public poll conducted in February 2025 by the University of Houston found Paxton with a slightly higher favorability rating (63%) than Cornyn (54%) among Texas Republican voters.

“People like to underestimate Cornyn, but they do so at their peril,” Mackowiak said. “He’s never lost an election. He’s 19-0, and his last three primary challenges he won by 30 to 40, and 70 points. He’s one of the greatest fundraisers in the history of the state of Texas, and he does it at the federal level, where you have $3,500 per person limits. Cornyn is going to run a highly sophisticated, well-funded, professional, aggressive effort.”

Steinhauser told JI that Paxton’s strong early polling in the race is as much a function of his strengths — an imposing profile in Texas state politics and appeal with the right-wing grassroots — more than any significant Cornyn vulnerabilities.

“[Paxton] certainly has a lot of support among very active, very conservative activists in the base. So I think that that is giving him a great opportunity at the beginning of the campaign. But if it was a different candidate, I don’t think we’d be talking about the race,” Steinhauser said

Both Republicans have touted their records in support of Israel and fighting against domestic antisemitism. 

Asked by JI in the Capitol this week what makes him a stronger candidate than Paxton when it comes to addressing the concerns of Jewish voters, Cornyn replied: “He’s a con man and I’ve got a demonstrated record of support. I think I’m probably at 100%. I keep asking AIPAC, ‘Can I do any better than that?’ And they’ve said, ‘No, that’s about as good as you can do.’”

Cornyn also argued that Republicans should “absolutely” be concerned that they could lose a Senate seat to Democrats if they were to nominate Paxton over him. “It would also be about a half-a-billion dollar race in money that would be more effectively spent in Michigan, in Georgia and in New Hampshire. So I think it’s a bad idea for him to run,” Cornyn said.

Jewish Insider’s senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod contributed to this report.

Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans penned a letter to Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) on Thursday to request that he hold a hearing on how the uptick in antisemitism on college campuses is violating the civil rights of Jewish students. 

The letter was led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the top Republican on the committee, and signed by every Republican who serves on the panel, including Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). They urged Durbin, who chairs the committee, to convene a hearing “on the civil rights violations of Jewish students” and “the proliferation of terrorist ideology — two issues that fall squarely within this Committee’s purview.”

“With this current state of inaction, it is incumbent upon this Committee to shed light on these civil rights violations,” the group wrote. “This Committee owes it to Jewish students, and all students who attend universities with modest hope of having a safe learning environment, to examine these civil rights violations.”

“Our committee should examine why more is not being done to protect the civil rights of innocent students across America,” they added. “We must also examine the threat to national security posed by the proliferation of radical Islamist ideology in the academy. These pressing issues demand our immediate attention.”

A spokesperson for Durbin did not immediately respond to JI’s request for comment on the letter, which came the same day as a missive from Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) requesting a similar hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. 

Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate HELP Committee, sent a letter to Sanders on Thursday urging him to convene a hearing in his capacity as committee chairman on the uptick in antisemitism on college campuses. 

Cassidy’s letter, first obtained by Jewish Insider, marks the second time in six months that the Louisiana senator has written to Sanders requesting that he allow for a full committee hearing “on ensuring safe learning environments for Jewish students, as required by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.” Cassidy released a statement last week re-upping his call for a hearing, though he told JI that effort got no response.

“It is our duty to ensure federal officials are doing everything in their power to uphold the law and ensure students are not excluded from participation, denied the benefits of, or subject to discrimination at school based on race, color, or national origin,” Cassidy wrote to Sanders. “In the six months since my last letter requesting a hearing, the situation has only gotten worse.”

While Republicans have generally been more vocal about their concerns on the issue of antisemitism on college campuses, there have been bipartisan calls for action in the upper chamber. 

Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and James Lankford (R-OK) have also asked Sanders to hold a hearing on antisemitism on college campuses in his capacity as HELP chairman. Similar to Cassidy, they have also not heard back from the Vermont senator. 

Separately, Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) requested a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser’s response to protests at The George Washington University’s campus this week. 

The duo penned a letter on Thursday to Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), who chairs the committee, requesting he bring in Bowser and D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith to testify on their respective responses to university requests to bring DCMP onto campus to clear out an anti-Israel encampment, requests Bowser denied. 

On the House side, where Republicans are in the majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) launched a chamber-wide effort to address all elements of the campus unrest. 

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who chairs the Education and Workforce Committee, revealed that in addition to her ongoing probes, she will have the presidents of three other schools testify next month on their responses to protests and instances of antisemitism on their campuses. The presidents of the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Michigan; and Yale University will be brought in to testify before Foxx’s committee on May 23. 

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, noted that her panel “oversees agencies that dole out massive amounts of taxpayer funded research grants… We will be increasing our oversight of institutions that have received public funding and cracking down on those who are in violation of the Civil Rights Act.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) said that his panel was reaching out to the State Department and Homeland Security Department to find out “how many students on a visa have engaged in the radical activity we’ve seen now day after day on college campuses.”

In the Texas primary runoff scheduled for July 14, two Democrats — M.J. Hegar, a white, female veteran of the United States Air Force, and Royce West, an African-American state politician — are competing for the chance to go up against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the powerful Republican incumbent who has held onto his seat for nearly two decades.

If that sort of matchup sounds familiar, it’s likely because it is reminiscent of Kentucky’s recent Democratic primary battle in which Amy McGrath, a white former Marine fighter pilot, narrowly defeated Charles Booker, a Black state representative who benefitted from a late-stage surge in popularity thanks in part to mass protests against systemic racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

The same dynamic has altered the political landscape in Texas, as the demonstrations “have turned what would have otherwise been a pretty easy victory for Hegar into a competitive contest,” said Mark P. Jones, a professor in the department of political science at Rice University in Houston.

Still, heading into the runoff, West has struggled to harness the national mood to his benefit. The most recent polling on the race, released on Sunday and conducted by the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler, found that Hegar, at 32%, leads her opponent by a comfortable margin of 12 points among Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents.

Royce West

Those numbers may reflect the fact that West, the longtime 67-year-old state senator, isn’t exactly an up-and-coming progressive, despite a legislative record that includes efforts to reform the criminal justice system. “Royce West is an institutionalist,” said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at the Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “He’s an insider and longtime member of the Texas Senate, so he is more of a moderate than a progressive among Black politicians and among Democrats.”

West seemed intent on maintaining that impression in a recent conversation with Jewish Insider. Though he supports the ongoing protests, advocating for a national standard around the use of deadly force, he also made sure to note that he has had positive interactions with the police. Shortly after he got his driver’s license, he said, an officer pulled him over for speeding and gave him a stern lesson on vehicular safety. “I never have forgotten it,” the longtime state senator recalled. 

Asked to name a political role model, West mentioned Lyndon B. Johnson, the former Texas-born president and senator. He cited Robert Caro’s biography of LBJ, Master of the Senate, noting that he hadn’t read the whole book, which is more than 1,000 pages. “I’ve read a few pages of it, though.”

You don’t hear a lot about LBJ these days, but Jillson said that West’s comment makes some sense. “Royce, I think, is saying there that he’s a deal-maker,” Jillson told JI, “that he’s an insider and that he’s tried to understand what the person on the other side of the table needs in order to deliver a product, in order to deliver a compromise, a bargain.”

For her part, Hegar, 44, has sought to avoid any sort of conflict with West, even as the race has become increasingly acrimonious in recent weeks. Throughout her campaign, she has focused largely on Cornyn, with the implicit assumption being that she will be the one to face him in November.

Hegar is the candidate with the most out-of-state institutional support. She is backed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as well as Emily’s List, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and J Street. 

Hegar, a Purple Heart recipient who completed three tours of duty in Afghanistan, ran for Congress in Texas’s 31st congressional district two years ago, attracting national attention with a viral ad. Hegar lost by less than 3 percentage points to Rep. John Carter (R-TX), but she believes she will fare better this time around. 

Though the pandemic has disrupted campaigning, Hegar — who has raised more than $6.6 million, according to the Federal Election Commission — maintains that she has “planted the seeds for a grassroots movement,” having spent the first year of her Senate bid driving tens of thousands of miles around the state.

Hegar, a Purple Heart recipient, completed three tours in Afghanistan with the United States Air Force.

In an interview with JI last week, Hegar expressed concerns about “racial injustice,” but seemed more at ease discussing foreign policy. 

“So much is falling by the wayside as far as not grabbing headlines that I think is very concerning,” she said, noting that the U.S. was losing its influence abroad. “We’re losing a lot of that position with this America-first kind of isolationist platform, with gutting our State Department,” she said. “Those kinds of things are really damaging our ability to operate globally.”

Hegar is also critical of Trump’s Middle East peace plan. “I’m going to advocate for policies that come from national security experts and advance the long-term goal of peace without sacrificing safety,” said Hegar, who supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “I don’t believe his plan does that. I don’t think anyone’s surprised because the way he develops his plans seem to be through nepotism and what’s best for his party or speaking to his base instead of what’s best for the country and what’s best for our allies.”

Hegar added that Trump’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal was a mistake. “It wasn’t perfect,” she said. “I do think it was a practical step in the right direction. The president acting unilaterally to abandon it and escalate confrontation with Iran — which he’s shown a willingness to continue to do — has really put troops and our allies at risk and has led us down a path toward what would be a very costly and destabilizing war.”

“I think that we should be partnering with the international community,” Hegar told JI. “I know some people like to shoot from the hip and be a cowboy. And I don’t believe that we should be losing any of our autonomy — I do believe we’re the leaders of the free world — but I think that that mantle is delicate and fragile, and we will lose it if we don’t act as such. And we are not acting that way now.”

West, who has brought in nearly $1.8 million in donations, was more comfortable discussing police reform than foreign policy in his interview with JI. He supports a two-state solution as it was “outlined in the Clinton Paramaters [sic],” according to a position paper, and expressed a desire to visit Israel if he is elected to the Senate. “Israel is our strongest Democratic ally in the Middle East, and so America should be supportive of Israel,” he said.

But he hesitated when asked for his opinion of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, known as BDS. “Remind me of what the acronym stands for?” he asked. After he was reminded, he said he did not support the movement. 

West also appeared to support rejoining the Iran nuclear deal, but seemed somewhat hazy on what that would involve. “The fact is, I don’t know all the details of the plan, but any type of plan that we have can always be reviewed to improve upon,” he said. “So I would not be opposed to reviewing it to see whether we can improve upon it.”

Fluency on foreign policy matters, however, is unlikely to swing the runoff in either direction. But because West has struggled to leverage the national mood in his favor, experts predict that Hegar will likely advance to the general election in the fall.

Whether she can beat Cornyn remains to be seen. 

The senator will be tough to unseat, according to Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston. “He’s got pole position — more money, better name identification and a veteran Texas campaign operation — he can define [Hegar] early and she might not have the money to respond unless she can raise Beto money,” Rottinghaus told JI, referring to former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who raised more than $80 million in his ultimately failed bid to oust Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).

Still, Hegar maintained that she is ready for the fight. 

“The primary and the runoff feel a little bit like I’m in an aircraft flying to go pick up a wounded soldier or civilian,” Hegar told JI, “and we’re talking about the difference between having a disagreement with someone in the cockpit about tactics and how we’re going to roll in versus the guy on the ground pointing an RPG at me.”

Cornyn, she made clear, is the guy with the rocket launcher.