Ken Paxton

1 of 3 | Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the Republican who has held a Texas Senate seat since 2002, edged Attorney General Ken Paxton by a percentage point in the March 3 Republican primary. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

May 26 (UPI) — President Donald Trump‘s endorsements loom large over Tuesday’s primary election runoffs in Texas with longtime Sen. John Cornyn facing Trump-pick Ken Paxton.

Cornyn, the Republican who has held a Texas Senate seat since 2002, edged Paxton by a percentage point in the March 3 primary. Neither candidate reached 50% of the vote, necessitating Tuesday’s runoff.

Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, frequently challenged Biden administration policies and was given Trump’s endorsement about one week before the primary election. Trump has called Paxton a “True MAGA warrior.”

The president has also been critical of Cornyn for being on the fence about Trump during his 2016 campaign and saying Trump’s “time has passed him by” in 2024.

The winner of the primary will be set to face Rep. James Talarico, D-Texas, in November.

“It is now time for Texas Republican voters to decide if they want a strong nominee to help our GOP candidates down ballot and defeat Talarico in November, or a weak nominee who jeopardizes everything we care about,” Cornyn said.

As Paxton runs for Cornyn’s Senate seat, the role of attorney general is up for grabs between Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and state Sen. Mayes Middleton. Paxton has held the office of the attorney general since 2014.

Trump has not weighed in on the race between Roy and Middleton. Roy has often backed Trump policies but has broken from the president in key moments, including after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Roy alleged that Trump had committed “clearly impeachable conduct.” He did not vote to impeach Trump for a second time though.

Longtime Democratic Rep. Al Green is being challenged in a runoff election by 38-year-old Christian Menefee on Tuesday. Green, 78, has represented the Houston-area 9th Congressional District since 2005.

Cryptocurrency has become a key issue in the race between Green and Menefee. An industry-aligned super PAC has spent about $5 million in support of Menefee.

May 15 (UPI) — Texas Children’s Hospital plans to create the first “detransition clinic” in the United States as part of a settlement with the state for provided transgender care, officials announced Friday.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the settlement, which will also require the hospital to fire and revoke the medical privileges of doctors, as well as pay a $10 million fine.

The hospital will make care at the clinic free of charge for its first five years and offer services for children to detransition to their gender assigned at birth.

Paxton investigated the Houston-based hospital in 2023 for the transgender care services it offered at the same time the state legislature was outlawing gender-affirming care for children.

“I applaud Texas Children’s Hospital for changing course and committing to being part of the solution by agreeing to form a first-of-its kind Detransition Clinic that will provide free care to those who have been victimized by twisted, morally bankrupt transgender ideology,” Paxton said in a statement.

The settlement, he said, is meant to reverse damage caused by “ideologically motivated physicians who harmed patients with their transition care, which the attorney general’s office alleged included the use of false diagnosis codes.

The hospital, in its own statement, said that it had spent the past three years cooperating with the investigation, “navigating an unconscionable campaign of mistrusts and mischaracterizations of gender affirming care.”

It said that multiple internal and external investigations support that the hospital has been compliant with all laws — before and after the state ban on transition care.

“Today, we made the difficult decision to settle with the Texas attorney general and the Department of Justice, closing a chapter that has been wrought with falsehoods and distractions,” the hospital said.

“To be clear — we are settling to protect our resources from endless and costly litigation,” it said. “This settlement will allow us to redirect those precious resources to focus on life-saving care and groundbreaking discoveries of our exceptional clinicians and scientists.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, seen here in April 2024, celebrated an appeals court ruling on Tuesday in favor of Senate Bill 10, which mandates public schools to display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms. Pool File Photo by Justin Lane/UPI | License Photo

April 22 (UPI) — A U.S. appeals court has ruled that Texas can require schools to display a copy of the Ten Commandments, finding the legislation that mandates the Decalogue in classrooms does not require students to believe in the religious teachings.

The Tuesday ruling from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is a victory for Texas conservatives and Christians who have fought to further include religion in public spaces. The decision is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court.

“This is a major victory for Texas and our moral values,” the state’s Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, said in a statement.

“The Ten Commandments have had a profound impact on our nation, and it’s important that students learn from them every single day.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10 into law June 10, directing every classroom in all Texas public schools to display the Ten Commandments starting Sept. 1, but has been tied up in litigation since.

While proponents argue the Decalogue is foundational to American life, opponents state that mandating it in schools is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented multi-faith Texas families in the case, said it was “extremely disappointed” by the decision and expects the Supreme Court to reverse it.

“The court’s ruling goes against fundamental First Amendment principles and binding U.S. Supreme Court authority,” the ACLU of Texas said in a statement.

“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction. This decision tramples those rights.”

The appeals court on Tuesday ruled 9-7 to overturn a lower court’s preliminary injunction that found S.B. 10 likely unconstitutional.

In its ruling, the appeals court found S.B. 10 “looks nothing like a historical religious establishment.”

“S.B. 10 authorizes no religious instruction and gives teachers no license to contradict children’s religious beliefs (or their parents’). No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them or affirm their divine origin,” the court said.