Ken Paxton offers to drop Texas Senate bid if Save America Act passes

The most important thing to know about this week’s preliminary results in Texas is that nearly 60% of Republican voters say they don’t want Sen. John Cornyn to return to Washington, and it will take more than support from President Donald Trump to change that.

On Thursday, Cornyn’s opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, made an interesting proposal to avoid ugly and costly May runoffs. Simply put, if the Senate passes the Save America Act, which would require voter ID and proof of citizenship to participate in federal elections, Paxton would drop out of the race.

This is an elegant solution that was suggested by some commentators, including myself, when it became clear that neither Cornyn nor Paxton could clear the 50% hurdle to avoid a runoff, and it would save Trump from having to step in and confirm.

The president said Friday that he would decide “fairly shortly” who he would support, but added that he “wants the full and complete passage of the Save America Act,” the first time he has publicly linked the two.

Desperate to hold on to their old friends, the offer to Senate GOP leadership appears to be: “You pass the Save America Act and I’ll save John Cornyn.” And even Paxton is on board.

This solution is a perfect one, because the Save America Act is a microcosm of everything GOP voters hate about the Republican establishment that runs the Senate. The polls show 70-80 percent approval, but it still can’t be passed.

Why did 60% of Republicans send this painful message to Cornyn and the GOP on Tuesday? Because guys like Majority Leader John Thune and his inner circle of highly attentive lawmakers, for all their big talk, can’t get anything done, even when it’s something as popular as Santa Claus.

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Interestingly, during the weekend leading up to Tuesday’s election in the Lone Star State, the most notable ads on TV were not for a specific candidate, but rather a pro-Save America Act ad that spelled out exactly how senators like Cornyn could vote to preserve U.S. elections.

I heard about the issue directly from voters, including a guy from El Paso, who said to me, “If they can’t pass the things that 80% of us want, then what’s the point of all this?”

If Cornyn wants to regain the trust of Texas GOP voters who rejected him on Tuesday, there’s no better way to start than by supporting, or even supporting, the Save America Act.

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Cornyn and all the Rinosuars in the upper room need to show that they are not going to sit around doing nothing for another six years.

The Save America Act is so popular, in fact, that it could potentially get the vote of at least one Democrat.

“The GOP is greedy on this issue. Make it simple: legal ID to vote in any federal election,” Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., told me Thursday when asked if he would support using a standing filibuster to pass the bill with a simple majority. He went on to suggest the Wisconsin law as a model, saying, “If that were the case, I would support it.”

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In fact, Fetterman argues that such changes would “shift the narrative into the Democrats’ lap,” forcing them to tell 80% of Americans that their positions are “weird” or “Jim Crow.”

The point is that when something is as popular as voter ID, there is no excuse for not getting it, or some version of it, across the finish line.

It’s hard to overstate how demoralizing it is for GOP voters, especially in deep red states, that controlling the Senate seems pointless.

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To be fair, his campaign has been in full attack mode against Paxton since Tuesday’s lackluster results, where Cornyn performed better than many expected, only making the case that Cornyn is electable. This is not enough.

Side by side photo of Texas State Representative James Talarico and Attorney General Ken Paxton. (Alberto Silva Fernandez/Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

When 60% of your own party’s voters want to send you away, you need to listen to them and find out why. It’s not enough for Cornyn to fold his arms and for me or James to say “God is non-dual” Talarico.

Sometimes in life a scolding can be a good thing in the long run, a wake up call. And Cornyn definitely got one of those this week.

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If Cornyn wants to keep his seat, he needs to take the bull by the horns and do something, showing voters he’s not just up for the game. And there is no better accomplishment than helping secure our nation’s elections.

Now is the time for Cornyn to lead, win his seat, and not fall behind with Trump support. Passing the Save America Act is the best and most important way to do this.

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