The Media Research Center has long been a fan of Texas attorney general Ken Paxton. in 2024, for example, it cheered that Paxton and other right-wingers successfully advanced a trollsuit and “denied the Biden censorship regime’s attempts to quash a free speech lawsuit,” and it gushed over how he “is investigating an effort by advertising firms to demonetize X and other platforms and coerce the platform into censoring its own users.” So when Paxton joined the race for a Texas Senate seat, the MRC has a prime spot in the partisan cheering section. Mark Finkelstein harrumphed in a May 24 post:
On Saturday’s edition of The Weekend on MS NOW, a panel discussion about the Texas Senate race offered some surprisingly candid pessimism about the Democrats’ chances.
The panel conceded that even with the more controversial Ken Paxton on the ballot, Democrats still face steep odds in Texas.
Jeff Mason of Bloomberg noted that at the end of the Obama administration, a “bunch” of his staff went to Texas with the goal of turning Texas purple, “and it didn’t happen.” Mason acknowledged that Dems might have a better shot this time around with Talarico as their candidate, potentially facing Paxton, “But it’s still tough.” Ali Vitali agreed: “I’m not saying it’s easy.”
[…]This was a revealing moment of realism on MS NOW. Even with what they consider a weaker Republican nominee, the panel clearly believes winning a Texas Senate seat remains a heavy lift for Democrats.
Finkelstein returned two days later to complain that another TV panel thinks that Paxton’s Republican runoff opponent, John Cornyn, may not actually be the squish Paxton has portrayed him as:
On Tuesday’s CNN This Morning, host Audie Cornish asked — seemingly out of nowhere — during the Group Chat on the Texas GOP Senate primary runoff: “Is John Cornyn a RINO?”
Cornish did not mention or dispute Cornyn’s widely cited 99%+ voting alignment with President Trump on roll-call votes where Trump took a clear position.
[…]Cornish’s unprompted “RINO” question and contradictory logic appear to be an attempt to stir the pot, amplify GOP divisions, and subtly boost the outcome that gives Democrats the best shot in November. I’m reminded of a pesky extended family member from back in the day. My mother would say of her: It’s always good to have Aunt Fanny around. If there’s no trouble, she can always start some!
Finkelstein returned to grumble in a May 27 post:
Talk about selection bias.
CNN This Morning began its coverage today of Ken Paxton’s decisive victory over John Cornyn in the Texas Republican Senate primary runoff by airing Manu Raju’s interviews on an Austin street with exactly two Texas Republicans who swore they won’t vote for Paxton. One even declared she will “absolutely” vote for Democrat James Talarico in November.
This is what passes for journalism at CNN these days. Hand-picked, cherry-picked, man-on-the-street interviews that conveniently fit the narrative the liberal network wants to push: that Paxton’s win is somehow fracturing the GOP and handing the seat to Democrats. Could anything be less scientific — or more revealing of CNN’s bias — than using two hand-picked interviews? Show us the outtakes, CNN! How many actual Paxton supporters did you interview before settling on just these two?
[…]Texas Republicans just delivered a clear message by nominating Paxton in a blowout. Trump’s endorsement helped seal it. But instead of analyzing the populist shift or the rejection of longtime establishment figures like Cornyn, CNN immediately went looking for dissenters to sow doubt. It’s the same tired playbook: amplify the country-club GOP discomfort while ignoring the broader victory for the base.
The same day, Curtis Houck was weirdly defensive about Paxton’s runoff victory:
The “Big Three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC were enthralled Wednesday morning with the possibilities of a blue Texas Senate seat in November as they declared the Republican nomination of “controversial” Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn could “backfire for the GOP” with Democrat state Representative James Talarico serving “as their best chance to win in decades.”
ABC’s Good Morning America co-host and former Clinton official George Stephanopoulos boasted in a tease about said “backfir[ing]”: “Texas-sized win for President Trump. Attorney General Ken Paxton ousts longtime Republican Senator John Cornyn in the high-stakes primary. Will that backfire for the GOP in November? How the race could decide which party controls the Senate.”
Stephanopoulos speculated minutes later that the win for “the state’s controversial attorney general…could boost Democrats come November.”
Congressional correspondent Jay O’Brien relayed the “embattled” Paxton won thanks to President Trump’s “last-minute endorsement” and “the fourth time in less than a month that the President has put his thumb on the scale in a primary to oust a Republican.”
Houck noted Paxton’s various scandals in passing — from adultery to an impeachment attempt — but refused to comment on them, even though he would almost certainly say something about them if Paxton was a Democrat.