A supercharged U.S. Senate GOP primary in Texas between Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton is kicking off with personal attacks and expectations of a high-spending race in a year when Senate Republicans will be defending key seats and targeting others in 2026.

Both candidates for the March 2026 primary come out swinging as the early jockeying for one of the top political prizes in Texas gets under way.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is staying neutral in a bitter primary for Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) Senate seat, a race that has already begun to splinter Texas’s congressional delegation. In a striking departure from Senate tradition,