Exclusive—Rep. Brandon Gill: The Senate Needs Serious Change, Let’s Start by Electing Ken Paxton

Over the last few months, the Senate has failed to pass the single most important piece of legislation in front of Congress, the SAVE America Act, despite President Trump’s full backing and overwhelming support from Americans on both sides of the aisle. At the same time, they failed to properly fund the Department of Homeland Security, which remains shut down.

To enact President Trump’s agenda, the Senate needs serious change; and a great place to start is by electing Ken Paxton. Paxton is a battle-hardened conservative who weathered a politicized impeachment trial and came out stronger than ever. For years he’s been on the front lines fighting in support of President Trump, against the Islamization of Texas, against the Left’s open borders, and against woke Democrat insanity. He’s a warrior who is ready, willing and able to do whatever is necessary to support the president in the Senate – exactly what Texas needs.

Paxton’s in a heated primary runoff with four term incumbent John Cornyn, who is well known in Texas and has virtually unlimited financial support. But Texas voters are starving for change. They want a Senator who will relentlessly and assiduously fight the Left and who will use every tool necessary to win. Ken Paxton will.

Consider what happened recently with the SAVE America Act. Washington has always known the only way the bill will get passed is if the Senate utilizes the “talking filibuster.” Unfortunately, that isn’t something Senator Cornyn was willing to do – at least not until Ken Paxton forced his hand. Only then did Cornyn come out in support of the talking filibuster.

Texans understand it was Paxton who led the charge on the SAVE America Act, not Cornyn. This is an issue that could determine the future viability of our Republic. When the stakes are this high, Texas needs a Senator who is eager to join the fight, not one reluctantly dragged to the Right in order to placate Texans during a heated primary election.

We cannot forget that illegal immigration was the most salient political issue of the 2024 election. Republicans were given a trifecta with a mandate to secure our border and deport illegal aliens en masse. The American people want their country back, and they elected Republicans to do the job.

Nothing would constitute a more catastrophic and unforgivable political betrayal than amnesty for illegal aliens. Implementing such a policy would rip the Republican Party apart. Unfortunately, Senator Cornyn has a long history of support for amnesty that lasts to the present day.

Going all the way back to 2003, Cornyn introduced an immigration reform bill that – if enacted – would have provided amnesty to millions of illegal aliens, while also creating individual investment accounts funded by payroll taxes for those newly-amnestied aliens. Notably, while defending his bill in 2004, Cornyn decried “extremists” who wanted to “build a wall” that would stop the flow of illegal aliens. He maintained that rhetoric for over a decade. As late as 2016, Cornyn further bashed President Trump’s border wall proposal as “naive,” saying it “makes no sense whatsoever.”

In 2018, Cornyn sponsored a bipartisan immigration reform bill that would have provided amnesty to 1.8 million illegal aliens. Alarmingly, this remains a priority for him today. In an interview with Politico just last month, Cornyn suggested amnesty for DACA recipients would be one of his key policy goals over the next two years, if re-elected.

I cannot support a Republican Senate candidate from my home state who won’t reject amnesty boldly and unambiguously – especially after four years of chaotic, lawless and utterly destructive open borders. Cornyn misses the moment. America needs deportations, not amnesty, and my constituents agree.

Of equal concern, Senator Cornyn has a record of supporting mass migration which directly fueled the disturbing Islamization of Texas. In 2021, Cornyn signed a letter to Joe Biden, urging him to expedite importation of Afghan refugees into American communities – even asking Biden to waive paperwork requirements. That same year, while parts of the country were shut down due to Covid, Cornyn sponsored the HOPE for Afghan SIVs Act, which waived medical requirements for Afghan immigrants, allowing them to “efficiently immigrate to the United States.” Of course, importing tens of thousands of destitute Afghan Muslims into American neighborhoods is a recipe for disaster – one we are currently dealing with today.

This isn’t sustainable. If the Republican Party is going to remain viable long term, we have to recognize that borders matter, that we have no obligation to open our doors to unassimilable cultures, and we must deliver wins for voters when they demand common sense bills like the SAVE America Act. Failing to recognize and act on these critical fights, is a betrayal that may destroy our party. Immigration touches everything, and it is an issue we cannot get wrong.

What the Senate needs is a conservative warrior, somebody who won’t just stand with President Trump, but someone who will fight alongside him every step of the way, and do it when it matters. Texas needs a Senator who will fight tooth and nail against amnesty, not support it.

But most importantly, Texans deserve a Senator who knows what time it is, who recognizes that Americans are losing their country, and it’s our job to fix it. Ken Paxton has demonstrated that he will do just that.

Electing Ken Paxton is the single greatest opportunity in 2026 to send a message that Texans will not tolerate anything less. That’s why in the upcoming runoff elections, I’ll be voting for Paxton, and I hope you will too.

Brandon Gill represents Texas’ 26th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.