George W. Bush Delivers Stunning Snub to MAGA

George W. Bush Reappears at GOP Fundraiser as Ken Paxton Is Left Out

Former President George W. Bush has stepped back into Republican fundraising — but one of the biggest GOP candidates in his home state was conspicuously absent from the effort.

Bush appeared Monday night at a Dallas fundraiser hosted by outgoing Republican Sen. John Cornyn that was designed to help GOP Senate candidates in several competitive states.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, however, was not among the candidates publicly benefiting from the event, according to reports on the fundraiser. Paxton defeated Cornyn in the Republican Senate runoff earlier this year and is now facing Democrat James Talarico in November.

The omission immediately drew attention because Paxton is the Republican nominee in Bush’s own state and has the backing of President Donald Trump.

Bush, meanwhile, has not publicly endorsed Paxton in the general election.

The Dallas event reportedly raised money through the Maintain the Majority committee for Republican candidates in several states, including Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire and Ohio.

Cornyn’s presence added another layer of political drama.

Paxton crushed the longtime senator in the May 26 Republican runoff, winning 885,949 votes to Cornyn’s 501,725, according to official Texas election results.

That bruising primary exposed a divide between Paxton’s Trump-backed wing of the party and Republicans who had rallied around Cornyn.

Now, just weeks before the November election, that divide is still visible.

Paxton Faces an Unusually Tight Texas Race

Paxton is running against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in a contest that has attracted national attention.

Recent polling has shown the race close.

An Emerson College/Nexstar survey conducted Sept. 12 through Sept. 14 showed Talarico at 47 percent and Paxton at 46 percent among likely voters. A separate ReconMR survey conducted Sept. 8 through Sept. 11 had Talarico at 49 percent and Paxton at 43 percent.

Earlier surveys have produced smaller margins, and at least one August Emerson poll showed Paxton narrowly ahead. That means the polling should be viewed as a snapshot rather than a prediction of the Nov. 3 result.

A Democratic victory would be historically significant.

Texas Democrats have not won a statewide office since 1994, despite repeated attempts to break the Republican Party’s decades-long hold on statewide government.

Paxton himself has publicly described the contest as extremely close. At a recent campaign rally in Cypress with Sen. Ted Cruz, he told supporters the race was “razor thin” and emphasized turnout.

Paxton’s Long History With the Bush Family

This is hardly Paxton’s first political collision with the Bush family.

In 2022, Paxton faced George P. Bush — George W. Bush’s nephew and the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — in the Republican runoff for Texas attorney general.

Paxton won decisively.

At the time, George P. Bush had centered much of his campaign on Paxton’s legal and ethical controversies.

Paxton later survived one of the most dramatic episodes of his political career when the Republican-controlled Texas House impeached him in May 2023.

The House approved 20 articles accusing him of misconduct that included allegations of bribery, abuse of office and obstruction connected to his relationship with Austin real-estate developer Nate Paul.

Paxton denied wrongdoing.

After a two-week impeachment trial, the Texas Senate acquitted him on all 16 articles that were brought to a vote. The remaining four were dismissed.

His personal life has also drawn public attention.

In July 2025, his wife, Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce and said publicly that she was ending their marriage on “biblical grounds.” Court filings obtained by The Texas Tribune alleged adultery. Ken Paxton said at the time that years of political attacks and public scrutiny had placed pressure on the marriage.

Another Bush Ally Breaks With a Texas Republican

Bush’s fundraiser comes as another prominent figure from his political orbit has publicly broken with a Republican candidate in Texas.

Karl Rove, the longtime strategist who helped engineer Bush’s rise in Texas and later his presidential campaigns, has said he plans to vote for Democrat Jon Rosenthal instead of Republican Bo French in the Texas Railroad Commission race.

Rove made that decision after French posted an image of South Asian University of Texas students celebrating a football victory and made comments about their presence on campus.

Rove called French a “bigot” during a private Austin luncheon, according to The Texas Tribune, and later expanded on his criticism publicly.

The Railroad Commission does not regulate railroads despite its name. It oversees Texas’ oil and gas industry, making the statewide contest particularly important to the state’s energy sector.

Cornyn has also amplified criticism of French, adding another example of friction between established Texas Republicans and candidates aligned with the party’s harder-right wing.

What Bush’s Appearance Actually Shows

There is no public statement from Bush saying that his appearance was intended as a direct attack on Paxton.

But the optics are difficult to ignore.

The former president attended a Republican fundraising event in Dallas supporting Senate candidates around the country while the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas was not among those publicly included.

That happened after Paxton defeated Cornyn, after Paxton previously defeated George P. Bush, and during a Senate race that recent polling shows remains highly competitive.

With Election Day approaching on Nov. 3, the episode offers another glimpse of the longstanding fault lines inside the Texas Republican Party — even as both parties pour money and attention into one of the country’s most closely watched Senate contests.