A push to make every Republican elected official and candidate in Harris County publicly endorse Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate collapsed before it ever reached a vote, exposing just how shaky party unity has become around the embattled attorney general's general-election campaign. The resolution, which would have also required local Republicans to actively campaign for Paxton, was proposed at a Harris County Republican Party executive committee meeting that adjourned before members could take it up.
The proposal came from Rachel Palmer Hooper, who serves as Precinct 16 chair and, according to Capitol Inside, also holds the title of General Counsel for the Republican Party of Texas. As reported by Chron, Hooper's resolution called for Republicans to issue a clear public statement endorsing Paxton, to visibly campaign for or promote his candidacy, and to cooperate with party efforts to elect him. The measure described Harris County as a critical battleground and argued that unified public support would strengthen party turnout in November.
Not everyone on the committee was on board. One unnamed Harris County GOP precinct chair described the resolution as the most outrageous thing they had ever seen, per Chron's reporting. The meeting itself was adjourned before members reached the resolution, according to Tony Ortiz's reporting cited by Current Revolt, meaning no formal vote for or against the mandate ever happened.
A Party Still Split After a Bruising Primary
The stalled resolution lands against the backdrop of a Republican civil war that has simmered since Paxton defeated incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn in the May runoff, capturing more than 63 percent of the vote. Cornyn's loss made him the first incumbent U.S. senator from Texas to lose renomination since 1970, according to Ballotpedia, and Paxton's win came only after a late endorsement from President Donald Trump, who called him a true MAGA warrior during the campaign's final stretch.
That primary bruising hasn't fully healed. A Fox News poll found that one quarter of self-described non-MAGA Republicans were backing Democratic nominee James Talarico rather than Paxton, per Chron's account of the survey. Paxton himself has acknowledged the problem, telling supporters he needed more Republican support as the race entered its general-election stretch and encouraging Republicans to put the primary behind them and focus on defeating Talarico in November.
Not all polling paints the same picture of GOP fracture, though. A Texas Southern University poll found 85 percent of Republicans supporting Paxton and 90 percent backing Governor Greg Abbott, numbers that suggest deeper party loyalty than the Fox News figure implies. Meanwhile, a Texas A&M Bush School and RECONMR survey found Talarico leading Paxton 47 percent to 43 percent statewide, a result Hoodline previously reported alongside sinking honesty numbers for the attorney general.
Party Discipline Tools Already Exist
Hooper's attempt to compel endorsements didn't emerge in a vacuum. Under the Texas GOP's revamped Rule 44, adopted in May 2024, local party committees can censure Republican officeholders, and the State Republican Executive Committee can vote to ban censured candidates from the primary ballot for two years, according to The Texas Tribune. Hooper herself has described that mechanism as a political death penalty, one created after the Texas House voted to impeach Paxton in 2023.
A separate July survey by Texas Public Opinion Research, involving 1,048 likely Texas voters, showed Talarico leading Paxton 45 percent to 40 percent, with nearly 20 percent of Republican respondents identifying as undecided or supporting Talarico. That poll highlighted independent voters and non-college-educated voters favoring Talarico in unusually large numbers, a trend that helps explain why party leaders like Hooper have reached for mandatory-endorsement resolutions rather than relying on grassroots enthusiasm alone.
Money Gap Adds Pressure on Paxton
The internal party tension comes as Paxton's campaign works to close a significant fundraising gap with Talarico. In the second quarter of 2026, Talarico raised $30 million, more than triple Paxton's $9 million haul over the same period, setting a record quarterly total for a U.S. Senate candidate in an election year. Between January 2025 and June 2026, Talarico accumulated $72 million in total contributions and held $23.3 million in cash on hand, compared to $16.8 million cumulative raised by Paxton, according to figures reported by News From The States.
Republicans do have one financial cushion: a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision eliminated federal limits on coordinated spending between national party committees and candidates, allowing national GOP funds to help offset Paxton's fundraising deficit. In August, Paxton rolled out a general-election economic platform called Protecting the Texas Promise, proposing federal tax deductions for medical expenses, gym memberships, GLP-1 medications and first-time homebuyer down payments, plus doubling the child tax credit to $4,400, as detailed by CBS News.
Talarico, who secured the Democratic nomination in March by defeating U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett with 52.4 percent of the primary vote, has built his general-election campaign around faith-based, working-class economic messaging. Chron reported that its outlet reached out to Harris County Republican Party officials and Paxton's campaign for comment on the stalled resolution. Democrats have not won a U.S. Senate seat in Texas since 1988 or any statewide office since 1994, a historical drought that makes the current infighting within Harris County's GOP ranks all the more notable heading into November.
