Texas attorney general Paxton, US Senator Cornyn headed to Republican runoff, NBC projects

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - Republican incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn and state Attorney ‌General Ken Paxton were headed to ‌a runoff election after neither was projected to win ​more than 50% of the vote in the Republican primary, NBC reported.

Cornyn was leading the field in Texas' three-way Senate primary, with ‌U.S. Representative Wesley ⁠Hunt trailing in third place.

Cornyn and Paxton will now face each ⁠other in a May 26 runoff.

Allies of Cornyn, who is backed by Senate Republican ​leadership, spent ​more than $60 million ​to boost the incumbent ‌over Paxton.

Primary Republican voters tend to be more conservative, which benefits Paxton, helping him to potentially defeat Cornyn in the runoff. Cornyn has argued, however, that Paxton's history ‌of scandals makes him vulnerable ​against a Democratic candidate ​in November ​and could cost Republicans a safe ‌Senate seat.

Trump won Texas ​by nearly ​14 percentage points in 2024 but declined to endorse any candidate. It's unclear whether ​he will ‌endorse someone before the runoff.

(Reporting by ​Nolan D. McCaskill, eidting by Ross ​Colvin and Deepa Babington)