George W Bush is back on the fundraising circuit, which would normally be good news for Republicans trying to hold their razor-thin Senate majority. Except there’s a problem. The former president is helping everyone except Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general who happens to be running in one of the most critical Senate races of 2026.
Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. This isn’t an oversight or scheduling conflict. This is deliberate. Bush showed up Monday night as the special guest for a John Cornyn fundraiser supporting something called Maintain the Majority, a PAC that’s backing Republican Senate candidates across the country. You know who wasn’t invited to that party? Ken Paxton, the guy who defeated Bush’s nephew George P. Bush in the 2022 race for Texas attorney general.
The old guard is still nursing its wounds, and honestly, it’s getting embarrassing. Bush and Cornyn are treating Paxton like he’s radioactive, all because he’s aligned with Trump and had the audacity to beat their preferred candidate. This is the Republican establishment at its most petty, choosing family loyalty and bruised egos over the actual goal of keeping the Senate in conservative hands.
Maintain the Majority lists a roster of Senate candidates getting support. There’s Dan Sullivan from Alaska, Jon Husted from Ohio, Susan Collins from Maine, and several others including late addition Michele Tafoya from Minnesota. The New York Times made sure to note who’s missing from that cozy club. Paxton, Georgia’s Mike Collins, and North Carolina’s Michael Whatley are conspicuously absent. What do these three have in common? They’re all closely tied to Trump’s political orbit.
Cornyn himself lost to Paxton in this year’s primary, which makes this whole situation even more transparent. The senator posted on X about early voting dates in Texas without even mentioning Paxton’s name. Imagine being so bitter about losing that you can’t bring yourself to support your own party’s nominee in a toss-up race. That’s where we are.
Here’s what makes this particularly galling. Texas is rated a toss-up by Fox News Power Rankings. Democrats see an opening to flip the seat. Meanwhile, Bush and Cornyn are playing their little games of exclusion while Republicans are trying to defend a 53 to 47 majority that could easily slip away. The math isn’t complicated. Every seat matters.
Karl Rove, Bush’s former senior advisor, recently announced he’d vote for a Texas Democrat. Let that sink in for a moment. These people would rather hand power to the opposition than support a Republican they don’t like personally. It’s not about principles anymore. It’s about control and relevance and the fact that Trump’s movement left them behind.
The good news for Paxton is that he doesn’t need Bush’s help. Trump’s midterm war chest at MAGA Inc. has over 415 million dollars in cash on hand according to the latest FEC filing. That’s real money, and it’s going to candidates who actually represent where the Republican base is right now, not where it was in 2004.
This race matters beyond Texas. Democrats are eyeing potential flips in multiple states while Republicans need to play defense and offense simultaneously. Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Maine, and Alaska are all battlegrounds. History tells us midterms are tough for the party controlling the White House, which means Republicans need every advantage they can get.
What Bush and Cornyn don’t seem to understand is that their brand of Republicanism lost. Not just in 2016, but repeatedly since then. Voters chose a different direction, and spending Monday nights at exclusive fundraisers for everyone except the Trump-backed candidates isn’t going to change that reality. It just makes them look small.
The Republican Party needs unity right now, not these tired rehashes of primary defeats and family grievances. Paxton won his primary fair and square. He’s the nominee. Either get behind him or get out of the way, because Democrats aren’t going to hand us Texas out of sympathy for establishment feelings.
Related: Rand Paul Tells Trump to Forget the $5,000 Checks While We’re $40 Trillion in Debt
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