Ken Paxton John Cornyn Texas Senate race

Republican candidates are beating Democratic counterparts in the Texas U.S. Senate race regardless of who de candidates are, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by the University of Houston's Hobby School of Public Affairs, showed that Republicans John Cornyn and Ken Paxton would beat their Democratic counterparts Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico regardless of the matchup.

Paxton would beat the two Democratic candidates by two percentage points. Cornyn would also beat Crockett by the same margin and would win a race against Talarico by a single percentage point. Rep. Wesley Hunt would beat the two candidates by a larger margin.

In the intra-party matchups, Paxton and Crockett took the lead. The former got 38% of the support, compared to Cornyn's 31%. 17% said they are likely to vote for Hunt and 12% of respondents said they are undecided. The poll was a margin of error of +/- 4.18 percentage points.

Paxton would also have the lead in an eventual runoff between the two candidates getting the most votes in the primary. He leads Cornyn with all key demographics except Latino voters.

Paxton's lead stands in contrast with another survey from Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media, which showed the two practically tied in January. Concretely, it showed Paxton with a narrow lead, garnering 27% of the support compared to Cornyn's 26%. Rep. Wesley Hunt got 16% of the prospective vote and 29% of respondents said they have not decided who they will vote for.

Paxton and Cornyn have been trading barbs as of late. The latest case took place last week after Paxton said in a social media post that "Cornyn's career is done and everyone knows it."

Cornyn's campaign reacted to Paxton's post with a jab of his own. "Ken, when this over, you will have nothing. Which turns out to be the same thing you offered to give Angela in divorce proceedings. This after you cheated on her multiple times," the publication reads.

As for Democrats, the poll showed that Crockett leads Talarico among all key demographics except for White voters and those with an advanced degree. 46% of likely Latino voters said they support Crockett, compared to 37% who chose Talarico. 15% said they were unsure. It is a contrast with other polls saying Talarico had an advantage with Latino voters.

Originally published on Latin Times