{"id":2574568,"date":"2026-02-27T19:31:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-two-steps-around-texas-primary-in-corpus-christi-swing\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T19:32:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T00:32:47","slug":"trump-two-steps-around-texas-primary-in-corpus-christi-swing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-two-steps-around-texas-primary-in-corpus-christi-swing\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump two-steps around Texas primary in Corpus Christi swing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrump-two-steps-around-texas-primary-in-corpus-christi-swing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2574568&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>President Donald Trump visited Corpus Christi, Texas, after his State of the Union and weighed in on the crowded Texas senate GOP primary, where incumbent John Cornyn, Rep. Wesley Hunt,and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are vying for the nomination. He declined to endorse any candidate, greeting all three and signaling friendliness while avoiding a definitive pick. the stop was framed around his energy and economic agendas, and he shared anecdotes, including a stock-market story, while noting a Venezuelan oil shipment at the Port of Corpus christi.<\/p>\n<p>The article notes that wiht a may 26 runoff likely, Paxton\u2019s scandal-plagued image and Cornyn\u2019s long tenure\u2014despite NRSC support\u2014make the race competitive. Beyond the Corpus Christi visit, Vice President Kamala Harris endorsed Democrat Jasmine Crockett in Texas\u2019 congressional primary, and Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales faced calls for resignation over a separate controversy. Trump teased a forthcoming endorsement but did not reveal a choice,complimented each candidate,and even floated Ted Cruz as a potential Supreme Court nominee,before heading on to Mar-a-Lago for weekend events.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Trump two-steps around Texas GOP Senate primary in Corpus Christi swing<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2518456\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> remained noncommittal about endorsing a candidate in the closely watched Senate GOP primary during his visit to Corpus Christi, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/texas\/\">Texas<\/a>, following his fourth <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/state-of-the-union\/\">State of the Union address<\/a> this week.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Trump&rsquo;s visit to Corpus Christi comes during a grueling and bitter Senate GOP primary between incumbent Sen. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-cornyn\/\">John Cornyn<\/a> (R-TX), Rep. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/wesley-hunt\/\">Wesley Hunt<\/a> (R-TX), and state attorney general <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ken-paxton\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"4370\">Ken Paxton<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/investigations\/4474312\/dhs-released-illegal-border-crossers-despite-claims-zero\/\">DHS releasing some illegal border crossers into US despite claims of &#8216;zero&#8217; releases<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4474557\/watch-live-trump-delivers-remarks-energy-texas\/\">WATCH LIVE: Trump delivers remarks on energy in Texas alongside all three Senate GOP hopefuls<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4474598\/trump-us-friendly-takeover-cuba\/\">Trump says US could &#8216;very well&#8217; see a &#8216;friendly takeover of Cuba&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Trump teased before his speech on Friday that he had &ldquo;pretty much&rdquo; decided who he would endorse, but declined to tell reporters which candidate had his support.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; Trump said when reporters asked him who he was backing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He did, however, greet all three candidates while speaking, signaling his friendliness but refusal to truly wade into the primary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The president called both Paxton and Cornyn &ldquo;great&rdquo; and the election &ldquo;interesting&rdquo; during his remarks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-slams-former-ag-barr\/\" title=\"... Slams Former AG Barr\">great attorney general<\/a>, Ken Paxton. Where&rsquo;s Ken? Hi Ken. And we have a great Sen. John Cornyn, Hi John, thank you, John,&rdquo; Trump said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;And another friend of mine who&rsquo;s doing very well, Wesley Hunt. Where&rsquo;s Wesley? Wesley Hunt, doing a good job,&rdquo; Trump also said. &ldquo;Thank you, Wesley.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cornyn, who flew to Corpus Christi with Trump aboard Air Force One, is in the fight of his political career despite being backed by the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/national-republican-senatorial-committee\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"5921\">National Republican Senatorial Committee <\/a>and his more than 20 years in the Senate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With three candidates in the field, it is not expected that any single lawmaker will win the primary. Instead, the top two candidates will advance to the primary runoff on May 26.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But Republicans are worried <span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">that the popular but&nbsp;<a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ap.org\/news-highlights\/spotlights\/2025\/justice-department-declined-to-prosecute-texas-ag-paxton-in-final-weeks-of-bidens-term-ap-sources\/\">scandal-plagued<\/a>&nbsp;Paxto<\/span>n could eventually win the primary, boosting Democrats&rsquo; chances of finally flipping the seat blue after decades of false hope.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Vice President Kamala Harris <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4474938\/kamala-harris-records-robocall-jasmine-crockett-texas-senate-primary\/\">threw her support behind<\/a> Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) on Friday and has recorded a robocall for the Congressional Democrat&rsquo;s primary battle against Texas State Rep. James Talarico.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Trump also publicly acknowledged the embattled Rep. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/tony-gonzales\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"11307\">Tony Gonzales<\/a> (R-TX), who sent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lauren-boebert-calls-on-tony-gonzales-to-resign-over-texts-with-late-staffer\/\" title=\"Lauren Boebert calls on ... to resign over texts with late staffer\">explicit late-night texts<\/a> to former aide Regina Santos-Aviles before she set herself on fire last year.<\/p>\n<p>Gonzales has refused to step down from office after the texts were made public this week, and at least six Republicans have called for his resignation, upending another Texas race with primaries looming.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Congressman Tony Gonzales is here. Tony, congratulations,&rdquo; Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>Trump was in Corpus Christi to underscore his economy and energy policy agendas before November&rsquo;s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/2026-election\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"11675\">midterm elections<\/a>, though he veered off script during his address to tell the crowd an anecdote intended to emphasize how well the stock market is performing at the moment.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This wonderful, tough policeman from New York, he&rsquo;s taking good care of us, and he said, &lsquo;Sir, it&rsquo;s so good. My married life has gotten so much better. Why? My wife thought I was a loser. Financially, I couldn&rsquo;t make any money because my 401(K) was dying for years, and now she thinks I&rsquo;m the smartest financial genius ever. It&rsquo;s made my sex life good. It&rsquo;s made my life. It&rsquo;s given me, it&rsquo;s given me a tremendous boost in life, sir.&rsquo; This is a big, tough cop. He said, &lsquo;My wife treated me like a dog, and now she admires my financial genius, and I haven&rsquo;t done anything, my 401(K) has gone through the roof.&rsquo; So I said, thank you very much,&rdquo; Trump said.<\/p>\n<p>When he was on script, Trump told the audience the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >oil tanker docked<\/a> in the Port of Corpus Christi behind him was carrying 360,000 barrels of Venezuelan oil.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to keep something for ourselves,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to give some to them, and they&rsquo;re going to make more money than they&rsquo;ve ever made before.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4473841\/vance-leading-trump-war-fraud-double-edged-sword\/\"><strong>VANCE LEADING TRUMP&rsquo;S &lsquo;WAR ON FRAUD&rsquo; COULD BE DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In addition to Cornyn, Actor Dennis Quaid accompanied Trump to Corpus Christi on his presidential plane and, at one point during his speech, came on stage to say, &ldquo;I love Corpus Christi &mdash; and I love Donald Trump!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump, donning a &ldquo;Gulf of America&rdquo; red baseball cap, similarly used the platform to quip about considering nominating Sen. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ted-cruz\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"185\">Ted Cruz<\/a> (R-TX) to the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"203\">Supreme Court<\/a>, criticize Rep. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ilhan-omar\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1223\">Ilhan Omar <\/a>(D-MN) for heckling him during his State of the Union, and claim he is &ldquo;entitled&rdquo; to a third term as president.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Maybe we do one more term?&rdquo; he asked. &ldquo;Should we do one more? One more term? Well, we&rsquo;re entitled to it because they cheated like hell in the second.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Trump now heads to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, for a weekend of political meetings and fundraisers, stopping at a Whataburger fast-food chain en route to the airport. &ldquo;Hamburgers for all!&rdquo; he shouted to those in the restaurant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump stays mum on endorsing in Texas Senate race<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2920,"featured_media":2574569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26058810748134.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[74772,4909,21486,3694,3634],"class_list":["post-2574568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-corpus-christi","tag-primary","tag-swing","tag-texas","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/AP26058810748134.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2574568"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2574572,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574568\/revisions\/2574572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2574569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2574568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2574568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2574568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}