Category: Uncategorized

A redistricting effort before the November elections has reshaped congressional voting districts for millions of Americans

Telling Republicans you vote with President Donald Trump 99% of the time, it turns out, is not enough.

John Cornyn, the four-term Republican senator who rose to become one of the most powerful figures in the chamber, lost his primary runoff on Tuesday to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — a man Cornyn has called corrupt and a liability for his own party. Trump endorsed Paxton just one week before the election ended. 

The result is the latest signpost in a spring that has exposed just how completely Trump has remade the Republican Party in his image. In the last month alone, Trump has purged Republican elected officials up and down the ballot for insufficient loyalty: five Indiana state senators who defied him on congressional redistricting, the U.S. senator from Louisiana who voted to convict Trump in the post-Jan. 6 impeachment trial, the Kentucky congressman who challenged him on foreign policy, the Epstein files and fiscal matters. Now one of Washington’s most seasoned Republican dealmakers has been added to the list.

What happened on Tuesday in Texas may prove to be the most striking of the bunch, as Trump made a late gambit supporting the much-maligned Paxton. Trump’s case against Cornyn wasn’t as clear-cut as the other people his political allies have targeted this primary season. Aside from his major role on a bipartisan gun safety law after the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, one would be hard-pressed to find a damning vote where Cornyn defied the president in a way that could actually resonate with large swaths of voters. And yet, Paxton not only won handily, he may have been able to win without the president picking a side. He ran a base-friendly campaign that repelled the fortune in money and support that pro-Cornyn forces marshaled to tout the incumbent’s record at a time when a lengthy career as an elected official is no longer the electoral asset it once was. 

“I just want to replace Cornyn,” said Tom Myers, a voter who supported Paxton. 

In a red state like Texas, and in today’s Republican Party, Cornyn was never going to win by trying to separate himself from the president. As voters made their choices Tuesday, Cornyn’s campaign website continued to show a photo of the senator side by side with Trump, both giving a thumbs-up and smiling, next to a claim in large type that “Sen. John Cornyn Votes With President Trump 99% of the Time.” 

Instead, Trump’s political case against Cornyn seemed to rest more on the perception of the Texan as someone willing to legislate in Washington, a task in a typically tradition-bound Senate that means sometimes working with one’s political opponents. 

Between Trump’s first term as president and his second, not much has changed about Cornyn. In 2019, Cornyn was touted by the president on social media as having “done an outstanding job for the people of Texas” and rewarded with his endorsement. 

Come 2023, an out-of-office Trump labeled Cornyn “hopeless.” And in a hesitation that may have meant a lot or nothing much at all, Cornyn waited to embrace Trump’s ambitions to try to return to the White House until after GOP presidential nominating contests started in January 2024. 

Trump’s intervention in Cornyn’s fate this year took a while to come to fruition. The initial March primary from which Cornyn and Paxton advanced happened without the president making a solid show of support, and despite the fact that he raised the prospect of picking a side soon after, his endorsement of Paxton didn’t come until a week before Tuesday’s runoff. 

Since then, Trump’s tenor toward Cornyn has grown more aggressive. A few days before the runoff ended, Trump leveled the claim that “Ken’s opponent was VERY disloyal to me, as President.” 

In his runoff victory speech, Paxton underlined what the race showed about today’s GOP. 

“President Trump is the leader of our party, and his endorsement is the most powerful force in politics,” he said.

Before this year, Cornyn had routinely turned away challenges to his seat, both within his own party and against Democrats. Running for re-election in 2020, he even got more Texas votes in the November general election than Trump himself. 

Standing in defeat Tuesday night, Cornyn told reporters, “I’ve always supported the Republican ticket, and I intend to do so again in this general election.” 

Paxton was impeached by the Texas House, and then acquitted by the state Senate, in 2023 over a series of articles that included allegations of bribery and violating the duties of his office, as well as misusing his official power and public resources. His political survival was Trump-like. And while Cornyn’s style was more in the mold of the traditional politician, Paxton resonated in ways much less traveled but more in vogue to today’s base voter. 

“He’s fighting for Texans more so than Cornyn has been,” Paxton voter Steve Belies told MS NOW. 

Back in the March primary, Democratic voters picked state Rep. James Talarico to run for the U.S. Senate seat. If Republicans had stuck with Cornyn, it would have made a difficult race even harder for Democrats. As the Republican to beat instead, Paxton is expected to make the race more winnable for the left given the controversies of the state’s attorney general. 

Talarico was quick to offer Cornyn’s voters an alternative on Tuesday night, saying in a social media post: “To Senator Cornyn’s supporters: you have a place in our campaign.” 

But in Texas, Democrats have suffered years of false momentum and misplaced hope. After a close loss in the 2018 U.S. Senate race and momentum in 2020, the party lost ground in the last presidential election and reinforced skepticism that a statewide losing streak stretching back to the 1990s could realistically be broken soon.

“It’s going to cost the party a ton of resources,” one senior Senate Republican strategist said. “I do think Ken will probably pull it off … but I also think we’ll have implications for downballot races, too.”

Cornyn’s message of integrity against Paxton did resonate with its share of people in Texas. And the tone that the soon-to-be-former senator relied on may come to be copied by Paxton’s opponents as well before too long. 

Joe Phillips, a Republican who supported Cornyn, called Paxton “a slime” before polls closed on Tuesday. 

“It amazes me that people continue to vote for him,” Phillips said. 

Jake Traylor, Soorin Kim, Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt contributed reporting to this article.

The post Trump’s purge of the GOP claims its biggest scalp yet appeared first on MS NOW.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) became the latest casualty of President Trump’s revenge tour on Tuesday after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) easily trounced the incumbent in the Senate GOP runoff.  Paxton is projected to garner about 64 percent support with over 95 percent of the vote reported early Wednesday, according to Decision Desk HQ The state’s attorney…

The designer spoke to Nicole Phelps at the Vogue Business Global Summit about his global expansion plans, the hard launch of a handbag collection, and bringing the worlds of fashion and music closer together.

As the race to create the next entry-level It-bag heats up at both ends of the market, how can brands win?

Former Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French is projected to deliver an upset and defeat incumbent Jim Wright in the GOP primary for Texas Railroad Commissioner, according to Decision Desk HQ. French, a rancher and mineral owner, was backed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and GOP donors like Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, according to Houston Public…

Howard Storm, a veteran television director who shot many episodes of Mork & Mindy, Rhoda, Valerie and many other shows, passed away on May 26. He was 94. Storm’s career included an extraordinary 59-episode run on Mork & Mindy as well as episodes of ALF, Full House, Head of the Class, Major Dad, Perfect Strangers, […]

Jason Lowrie/BFA.com By Brianna J. Heath ·Updated May 27, 2026 Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…

Both on the canvas and within the institutions that house them, Julie Mehretu asks us what abstraction can carry in our collective experience. For the Whitney Museum 2026 Annual Gala, Mehretu was honored for her unprecedented philanthropic contributions that have reoriented the Museum’s position in serving artists and communities.

Most notable is her gift enabling the Museum’s Free 25 & Under Initiative, making admission complimentary for all visitors under 25. It is one of the largest gifts to a museum from an artist in the country and has beensrc=”https://media.essence.com/vxcjywbwpa/uploads/2026/05/BFA_54428_7944757-774×516-1.webp” alt=”The Whitney Museum Gala Honors Julie Mehretu with A Night Celebrating Art & Access” width=”400″ height=”266″ />Photo Credit: Carl Timpone and Jason Lowrie

Introducing younger audiences to the Whitney is in service of making cultural belonging a right for everyone, regardless of what they can afford. Since instituting the Whitney’s free admissions programs, the median age of museum attendees has dropped by seven years and diversity of visitors for free programs has increased by over 20%.

“Julie’s gift has completely changed the Whitney’s demographic. Our visitors are now significantly younger and more diverse,” Whitney Curator-at-Large Meg Onli says. “It has infused so much vitality into the museum as we approach creating exhibitions with younger audiences in mind that we didn’t have prior to her gift.” 

The gala also honored former Whitney Director, Adam D. Weinberg, and Whitney Board Chair, Fern K. Tessler, alongside Mehretu. Over 500 guests gathered for a cocktail hour on the Museum’s rooftop and galleries followed by a seated, candle-lit dinner in the lobby. Artists, curators, collectors, and patrons dazzled in ebullient commemoration of the honorees’ life-long commitments to art and cultural stewardship. The celebration concluded with a surprise performance by Reggae legend, Shaggy. 

Photo Credit: Carl Timpone and Jason LowrieTOPICS:  black art Julie Mehretu Whitney Gala

The post The Whitney Museum Gala Honors Julie Mehretu with A Night Celebrating Art & Access appeared first on Essence.

Ella Bright is addressing “people’s concern” on the almost decade-long age gap between her and her Off Campus co-star, Belmont Cameli. The star of the Prime Video series is 19 years old, while her on-screen romantic partner is 28. “Listen, I came into this job and during the chemistry reads with more than enough information […]

Texas Democrats have wandered in the wilderness for decades. They hope a seminarian-turned-politician will finally lead them out.

Now that Republicans have nominated Attorney General Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate, Democrats see November as their best opportunity this century to flip Texas blue. They have a favorable political environment, aided by nationwide dissatisfaction with the economy and President Donald Trump’s leadership. They see the Texas GOP fractured after a messy Senate primary that took out Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), one of the party’s senior statesmen, and a potentially fatally flawed candidate in Paxton with his significant personal baggage.

They think

MLB star Bryce Harper is making waves online for one unusual move he makes while brushing his teeth.

John McClain, the co-executor of Michael Jackson’s estate and a veteran music executive and producer has died … TMZ has learned. A rep for McClain tells TMZ … John died Tuesday. Sources with direct knowledge tell us been had been sick for…