美国总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)周三表示，他将很快在激烈的得克萨斯州参议院共和党初选中表示支持，因为约翰·科宁和得克萨斯州司法部长肯·帕克斯顿(Ken Paxton)将在5月举行决选。
特朗普还表达了他希望未被认可的候选人承认失败的愿望。
“共和党在伟大的德克萨斯州进行了美国参议院的初选，我喜欢这个州，并以创纪录的数字赢得了3次(迄今为止最高的投票记录!!!)，不能，为了党的利益，我们的国家，本身，被允许继续下去。现在必须停止!”特朗普在自己的社交媒体平台上写道。
“我将很快表态支持，并将要求我不支持的候选人立即退出竞选!这公平吗?我们必须在11月获胜!!!"特朗普写道。
在总统发布帖子的几个小时前，参议院共和党领导层敦促特朗普支持四届共和党参议员科尔宁，而不是帕克斯顿。帕克斯顿是一名保守派煽动者，尽管卷入了几起丑闻，但他在特朗普的MAGA阵营中很受欢迎。
在周二晚上的初选中，科宁和帕克斯顿都没有获得50%的选票。同样参加初选的共和党众议员韦斯利·亨特已经承认了。
共和党初选的获胜者将面对民主党众议员詹姆斯·塔拉里科，一位36岁的长老会神学院学生和前教师，他在周二晚上击败了众议员贾斯敏·克罗克特。
今年中期周期的关键是特朗普对国会的控制，共和党在众议院和参议院都占微弱多数。
“我们需要保住那个席位，这意味着我们需要提名将在11月获胜的人。对我来说，那只是这两人中能进入决选的一个:那就是约翰·科宁，”共和党党鞭约翰·巴拉索(John Barrasso)周三表示。“我会鼓励总统支持他。总统将在他自己的时间里做出决定。”
巴拉索指出，周二晚上民主党选民的投票率较高，他说，“这表明民主党方面有活力和热情。”
巴拉索说:“我们需要提名一个能吸引整个得克萨斯州选民的人，这个人就是约翰·科宁。”。
参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩(John Thune)表示，他希望特朗普会支持科宁，并拯救共和党的竞选团队，使其不必继续花费巨资帮助科宁击败帕克斯顿。根据跟踪公司AdImpact的数据，Cornyn和他的盟友已经在广告支出上花费了超过7000万美元。
“在我看来，科宁度过了一个美好的夜晚。你知道，赢了。他已经做好了赢得决选的准备，”图恩说。“如果总统尽早批准，这将为每个人节省很多钱，也为我们节省了10周的激烈竞选活动，使我们不必花时间关注民主党人。”
图恩说，两位共和党候选人之间激烈的初选“没有帮助”
“这就是为什么，如果总统能够参与进来，这将是非常有益的，”图恩说。
图恩后来告诉福克斯新闻频道，他周三与特朗普进行了交谈，并重申了他对科尔宁的支持，尽管他说特朗普“自己做决定”
在整个初选过程中，特朗普一直避免表态支持，声称科宁、帕克斯顿和亨特都是“优秀”的候选人，是他的“朋友”。
特朗普周三在社交媒体上发表帖子，称赞科尔宁和帕克斯顿进行了“精彩的比赛”，但表示他们“不够好”。
“我们有一个容易击败的激进的左翼对手，我们必须完全专注于把他赶走，迅速而果断!约翰和肯都跑得很好，但还不够好。现在，这一个，必须是完美的!”特朗普写道。
Trump teases endorsement in Texas Senate primary as GOP leaders urge him to back Cornyn
President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he will soon make an endorsement in the heatedTexas Senate Republican primary, as Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton head toward a runoff election in May.
Trump also expressed his desire for the non-endorsed candidate to concede.
"The Republican Primary Race for the United States Senate in the Great State of Texas, a State I LOVE and won 3 times in Record Numbers (the HIGHEST vote ever recorded, by far!!!), cannot, for the good of the Party, and our Country, itself, be allowed to go on any longer.IT MUST STOP NOW!" Trump wrote on his social media platform.
"I will be making my Endorsement soon, and will be asking the candidate that I don’t Endorse to immediately DROP OUT OF THE RACE!Is that fair? We must win in November!!!" Trump wrote.
The president's post came hours after Senate Republican leadership urged Trump to back Cornyn, a four-term Republican senator, over Paxton, a conservative firebrand who has become popular among Trump's MAGA base despite being involved in several scandals.
Neither Cornyn nor Paxton captured 50% of the vote on Tuesday night's primary. Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt, who was also running in the primary, has conceded.
The winner of the GOP primary will face Democratic State Rep. James Talarico, a 36-year-old Presbyterian seminarian and former teacherwho defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett on Tuesday night.
At stake in this year's midterm cycle is Trump's hold on Congress, where Republicans have narrow majorities in both the House and Senate.
"We need to hold that seat, which means we need to nominate somebody that's going to win in November. And to me, that's only one of those two that's going to make it to the runoff: and that is John Cornyn," Republican Whip John Barrasso said on Wednesday. "I would encourage the president to endorse him. The president will make his on his own time."
Barrasso noted higher turnout on Tuesday night among Democratic voters, which he said "shows that the energy and enthusiasm is there on the Democrat side."
"We need to nominate somebody who attracts voters across the state of Texas, and that's John Cornyn,” Barrasso said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he's hopefulthat Trump will endorse Cornyn and save the GOP's campaign arm from continuing to have to spend heavily to help Cornyn defeat Paxton. Cornyn and his allies already spent more than $70 million on ad spending, according to tracking firm AdImpact.
"Cornyn had, in my view -- had a great night. And you know, wins. He's positioned to win the runoff," Thune said. "And if the president endorses early, it saves everybody a lot of money and lot of just, 10 weeks of spirited campaign on our side that keeps us from spending time focusing on the Democrats."
Thune said that a hard-fought primary runoff between two Republican candidates is "not helpful."
"Which is why, if the president can weigh in, it would be enormously helpful," Thune said.
Thune later told Fox News that he spoke with Trump on Wednesday and reiterated his support for Cornyn, though he said Trump "makes his own decisions."
Throughout the course of the primary election, Trump's avoided making an endorsement, claiming that Cornyn, Paxton and Hunt were all "excellent" candidates and his "friends."
Trump, in his social media post on Wednesday, praised Cornyn and Paxton for running "good races" but said they were "not good enough."
"We have an easy to beat, Radical Left Opponent, and we have to TOTALLY FOCUS on putting him away, quickly and decisively! Both John and Ken ran great races, but not good enough. Now, this one, must be PERFECT!" Trump wrote.
