President Donald Trump wants to see the Save America Act on his desk before endorsing it in the Texas Senate race, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote.
Trump delivered his message to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Friday.
In a post on X, Bash explained:
And on the Texas GOP Senate race, President Trump said he would “make a decision very soon” but that he wants “a full and complete Save America Act (which now includes trans issues) to be in place”. “We must have voter ID. We must have proof of citizenship. We must have no mail-in ballots except for military, illness, disability and travel.”
We have to have no men in the women’s game – I’ve added two things, and we have to have no transgender operations for youngsters.”
Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) had 42 percent and 41 percent support, respectively, in Tuesday’s primary, allowing neither to cross the 50 percent threshold to advance to the runoff. Representative Wesley Hunt (R-TX) earned 14 percent support.
Trump announced Wednesday that he would soon endorse in the runoff and called for anyone who doesn’t get his endorsement to drop out immediately. But Paxton said he would not drop out even if Cornyn got the president’s coveted endorsement, to which Trump responded in an interview Thursday, “Well, that’s bad for him to say.” politico.
Paxton then went to Ax and announced that he would consider dropping out of the race only if the US Senate bypassed the filibuster and passed the Save America Act. The President is now looking to take advantage of the advantage created by Paxton.
“The Save America Act is the most important bill the U.S. Senate will ever pass, and I am committed to helping President Trump get it done,” Paxton wrote in a post on X.
Paxton rebuked Cornyn as a “coward”.
“John Cornyn is a coward who has refused to support eliminating the filibuster to pass this bill,” he wrote. “Now, fake news reporters and the establishment are trying to destroy me by spreading misinformation.”
He said, “The truth is clear: No one has been more loyal to Donald Trump than I have been — contesting the stolen 2020 election, being at Mar-a-Lago when he announced his 2024 campaign, and standing up to him in New York when he violated the law.”
Paxton concluded, “For the good of our country and for the good of passing President Trump’s agenda, I am committed to helping him get it done.”
Trump spoke with NBC News’ Garrett Hawke about the situation Thursday night. Hawke reported on X:
President Trump hasn’t told me who he plans to endorse in the Texas Senate race, but he might have tipped his hand when I noted @JohnCornin Polls fared better on Tuesday: “Corynin is a very underrated guy. He was supposed to lose by ten points and he won. He’s a good guy.”
And/but the President also noted @KenPaxtonTX Vocal support of the Save America Act, and made it clear that he was “not happy with it not passing” in the Senate and has “expressed that to everyone.”
Since Trump has not endorsed and is still considering the decision, all eyes will be on Cornyn and the Senate GOP leadership to see whether they act on the Save America Act, which has strong bipartisan support among registered voters.
