Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) are in a dead heat in the GOP primary for Cornyn’s seat next year, with Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) about 10 points behind the pair, according to a new poll.
Polling released by the University of Houston and Texas Southern University on Thursday found Paxton at 34 percent, Cornyn at 33 percent and Hunt at 22 percent support.
A separate 11 percent of survey respondents said they were not sure whom they supported. Respondents were surveyed before Hunt announced this week that he was running for Senate.
The polling found that Cornyn and Paxton are already well known in the state, with a respective 90 percent and 94 percent of Republican primary voters saying they knew enough about them to have an opinion of them.
Meanwhile, Hunt still needs to introduce himself to more of the state, with the polling finding that 69 percent of respondents know enough to have thoughts on the candidate.
Hunt’s entry could complicate the pathway for Cornyn, who is already fighting for his political life against Paxton. But the polling also shows that there’s likely to be a runoff for the GOP nod.
A candidate would need to secure more than half the vote in order to avoid a runoff in a primary.
Respondents were also presented with a hypothetical head-to-head with the Republican candidates and four declared or potential Democratic candidates — former Rep. Colin Allred, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke and state Rep. James Talarico.
Hunt performed the best in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups against the Democratic candidates compared with Cornyn or Paxton in the polling, with Hunt averaging a 4.5-point lead over the Democratic contender, while Cornyn averaged a 3.5-point lead and Paxton averaged a 2.25-point lead.
The numbers come very early in the primary, and Hunt is largely undefined right now.
The survey also seemed to show a split between whether or not President Trump’s endorsement in the GOP primary would make a difference to them: 50 percent of respondents said they were more likely to back the Trump-endorsed candidate in a Republican contest, while 40 percent said it wouldn’t make an impact and 10 percent said it would make them less inclined to vote for the candidate.
The poll was conducted between Sept. 19 and Oct. 1, with 1,650 YouGov adult respondents surveyed. The overall sample size had a margin of error of 2.41 points. There were 576 registered voters sampled for the GOP primary ballot, with a margin of error of 4.08 points.