President Donald Trump wants to see the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, on his desk before he makes an endorsement in the Texas Senate race.
Trump delivered his message to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Friday in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash.
In a post on X, Bash reported:
And on Texas GOP Senate race, President Trump said he will make a “decision fairly shortly” but that he wants “to have the full and complete Save America Act (which Includes trans issues now) “We have to have voter ID. We have to have proof of citizenship We have to have no mail in ballots except the military, illness, disability and travel.
We have to have no men in women’s sports — I added two things, and we have to have no transgender operations for youth.”
Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) were neck and neck in support in Tuesday’s primary, at 42 percent and 41 percent, respectively, advancing to a runoff as neither eclipsed the 50 percent threshold. Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) earned 14 percent of support.
Trump announced Wednesday he would soon make an endorsement in the runoff and called for whoever does not get his nod to drop out immediately. But Paxton said he would not drop out even if Cornyn gets the president’s coveted endorsement, to which Trump responded, “Well, that’s bad for him to say,” in a Thursday interview with Politico.
Paxton then took to X, announcing he would only consider dropping out of the race if the U.S. Senate bypassed the filibuster and advanced the SAVE America Act. The president is now looking to capitalize on the leverage Paxton created.
“The Save America Act is the most important bill the U.S. Senate could ever pass, and I’m committed to helping President Trump get it done,” Paxton wrote in a post on X. “I would consider dropping out of this race if Senate Leadership agrees to lift the filibuster and passes the SAVE America Act.”
Paxton ripped Cornyn as “a coward.”
“John Cornyn is a coward who has refused to support abolishing the filibuster to pass this bill,” he wrote. “Now, Fake News reporters and the establishment are trying to destroy me with misinformation.”
“The truth is clear: No one has been more loyal to Donald Trump than me — fighting the stolen 2020 election, being in Mar-a-Lago when he announced his 2024 campaign, and standing with him in NY in the face of lawfare,” he added.
“For the good of our country and for the good of passing President Trump’s agenda, I am determined to help him get this done,” Paxton concluded.
Trump spoke on the situation with NBC News’ Garrett Haake on Thursday night. Haake reported on X:
President Trump wouldn’t tell me who he plans to endorse in the Texas Senate race, but MAY have tipped his hand when I noted @JohnCornyn outperformed polls Tuesday: “Cornyn is a very underrated person. He was supposed to lose by ten points and he won. He’s a good man.”
And/But the President also noted @KenPaxtonTX outspoken support of the Save America Act, and made it clear he’s “not happy its not moving,” in the Senate and that he’s “expressed that to everyone.”
As Trump has not made an endorsement and still seems to be weighing the decision, all eyes turn to Cornyn and Senate GOP leadership to see whether they take action on the SAVE America Act, which has robust bipartisan support among registered voters.
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