Donald Trump’s rise to power infuriated the GOP establishment.
Trump’s war against the establishment is heating up again.
Because Donald Trump and George Bush are heading for a showdown.
A war for the heart and soul of the GOP has been underway for years.
It’s been the establishment Republicans represented by the Bush political dynasty versus the conservative-populism embodied by Donald Trump.
Now, the Republican Primary results in Texas have created a Bush vs. Trump showdown that could define the Republican Party for a generation to come.
The biggest news coming out of the recent Texas primaries wasn’t the looming race for governor between incumbent Republican Greg Abbott and Democrat perennially-loser Beto O’Rourke.
That was a result everyone saw coming – and polling has Abbott leading by a country mile.
It was the results of the GOP primary for Attorney General that created the most interesting scenario.
The incumbent Texas Attorney General Republican Ken Paxton scored a high plurality of the votes cast in the contest.
However, in the four-man race, Paxton did not secure a clear majority.
That means he’s heading to a runoff before the November General Election against the second-place finisher in the primary – George P. Bush.
And the faceoff is being billed as a showdown of Trump’s brand of conservatism vs. the Bush establishment.
Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Paxton’s bid for re-election.
“It is going to take a PATRIOT like Ken Paxton to advance America First policies in order to Make America Great Again,” Trump said when endorsing Paxton. “Ken has my Complete and Total Endorsement for another term as Attorney General of Texas. He is a true Texan who will keep Texas safe—and will never let you down!”
Trump endorsed Paxon in his first re-election effort in 2018 – which scared off any other primary contenders.
But with Trump no longer in the White House, challengers lined up to square off against Paxton this year – among them current Texas Land Commissioner George Prescott Bush who was elected to that state-wide office in 2018 by 10-points.
George P. Bush is the son of former Florida Governor, and failed presidential candidate, Jeb Bush.
Of course, Jeb and Trump had quite the rivalry early in the 2016 GOP Presidential Primaries – back when Jeb was considered the heavy frontrunner for the nomination and the press was writing off Trump as having no chance to win.
George P. represents the next wave of the Bush political dynasty – and a victory over the Trump-backed Paxton in a runoff would offer a minicom of revenge for his dad.
In the primary, Paxton led the field with about 43% of the vote – about 815,000 total votes.
Bush took home the silver, but was 20-points behind, with only 23% or about 435,000 votes.
Both Paxton and Bush scored more votes than the Democrat Primary leader in the AG race, civil rights attorney Rochelle Garza, who tallied only a little more than 430,000 votes while running with the first-place spot, but also not scoring a pure majority.
Garza will also move to a party runoff where she’ll face 2nd place Democrat primary finisher Joe Jaworski.
However, there is little suspense for the general election in November.
And all eyes are on the May 24 GOP showdown between the Trump and Bush wings of the Republican Party.
Political Animal News will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
