{"id":49,"date":"2026-05-06T21:08:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49"},"modified":"2026-05-06T21:08:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:08:23","slug":"texas-senate-gop-runoff-paxton-narrowly-leads-cornyn-in-latest-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49","title":{"rendered":"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n article<\/span><\/div>

John Cornyn and Ken Paxton (Getty Images)<\/span> <\/p> <\/div><\/div> <\/div>

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton holds a slight lead over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the upcoming May 26 runoff elections, according to the latest polling from the University of Houston.<\/p>

Read more Texas DPS proposes citizenship checks for handgun licenses, security guards and more<\/a><\/p>

The poll, conducted by the University of Houston’s School of Public Affairs, surveyed 1,300 likely Republican voters from across the state. In the poll, 48% said they would vote for Paxton, while 45% broke for Cornyn.<\/p>

Polls between the pair have been close throughout election season. In March, coefficient.org showed Cornyn with a single-point lead over Paxton.\u00a0<\/p>

<\/div>

Both candidates were found to be trailing hypothetical head-to-heads against Democratic nominee James Talarico last month, with Cornyn’s gap slightly smaller than Paxton’s.<\/p>

The latest polling has voters split on who is the better opponent for Talarico, with 43% of respondents saying Paxton and 43% saying Cornyn, while 14% said neither is a stronger candidate than the other in November.<\/p>

What matters most to supporters of Paxton and Cornyn<\/h2>

Supporters of the two republicans are split on the issues that matter to them the most.<\/p>

Paxton voters said immigration and election integrity are the most important issues, while Cornyn supporters cited cost of living and the economy as the most pressing issues.<\/p>

Read more Governor Abbott opens 460 MW Pin Oak power plant, first under Texas Energy Fund<\/a><\/p>

Those polled were also split by education level in their support, with a majority of voters with a four-year college degree voicing their support for Cornyn, while a majority of those without a four-year college degree supported Paxton.<\/p>

While both candidates will try to win over those who voted for Rep. Wesley Hunt in March, it’s Paxton who is drawing a majority of those voters in, with 54% saying they’ve moved over to the Paxton camp and 35% moving over to Cornyn.<\/p>

Other GOP runoff races<\/h2>

The UH poll also looked at two other Republican races that will be decided in runoff elections.<\/p>

In the race for the Republican nomination in the state attorney general race, state Sen. Mayes Middleton held a nine percentage point lead over U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, 48% to 39%. Thirteen percent of those polled said they were still unsure about the race.<\/p>

The railroad commissioner race is another Republican race going to a runoff.<\/p>

Voters remain more undecided in that race, with 35% supporting incumbent Jim Wright and 28% supporting Bo French. The remaining 37% of voters said they were unsure who they would support.<\/p>

Read more Pflugerville mass shooting: 1 dead, 4 injured; police identify man killed, release video<\/a><\/p> <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton holds a slight lead over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the upcoming May 26 runoff elections, according to the latest polling from the University of Houston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,12,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2026-elections","category-texas","category-texas-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nTexas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll - Houston Moving Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll - Houston Moving Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton holds a slight lead over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the upcoming May 26 runoff elections, according to the latest polling from the University of Houston.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Houston Moving Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-06T21:08:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba\"},\"headline\":\"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-06T21:08:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49\"},\"wordCount\":444,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2026 Elections\",\"Texas\",\"Texas Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49\",\"name\":\"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll - Houston Moving Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-06T21:08:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?p=49#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Houston Moving Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/houstonmovingjournal.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll - Houston Moving Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll - Houston Moving Journal","og_description":"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton holds a slight lead over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the upcoming May 26 runoff elections, according to the latest polling from the University of Houston.","og_url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49","og_site_name":"Houston Moving Journal","article_published_time":"2026-05-06T21:08:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba"},"headline":"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll","datePublished":"2026-05-06T21:08:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49"},"wordCount":444,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg","articleSection":["2026 Elections","Texas","Texas Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49","url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49","name":"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll - Houston Moving Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-06T21:08:23+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ea0164a357689bef5e6c381e67e4457b.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?p=49#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Texas Senate GOP runoff: Paxton narrowly leads Cornyn in latest poll"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/","name":"Houston Moving Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e51740aab7bd577378c5f91b003a39ba","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com"],"url":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonmovingjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}