Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said he can win the Republican Senate primary even without President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

‘He makes his own decisions,’ Paxton told Fox News Digital. ‘I’m perfectly fine right now. We’re going to win this election either way. And I’m happy with where we’re at, and you’re going to see next Tuesday that we’re going to come out in front.’

Paxton, who was invited by Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, to attend Trump’s State of the Union address, is one of seven challengers vying to unseat longtime Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who is running for a fifth term in the upper chamber.

Early voting has already begun in the Lone Star State, and primary election day is March 3.

Even without a coveted nod from the president, Paxton acknowledged that cutting through the densely packed field would be difficult without the race going to a runoff, but not impossible.

‘It’s hard to win outright, but you know anything’s possible,’ Paxton said. ‘If anybody’s going to do it, it is going to be me.’

Much of the attention has been paid to the three-way fight between Paxton, Cornyn and Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas — a brawl that Trump has chosen to keep at arm’s length. He told reporters last week that he supports all three.

Cornyn is Paxton’s primary target in the crowded field. The two have engaged in a mudslinging back-and-forth on the road and in ads, dumping millions into toppling one another.

When asked about Cornyn’s attacks against him, Paxton said, ‘He’s not a polite man.’

Paxton accused the lawmaker of being ineffective during his 24-year run in the Senate and dubbed him ‘Fake John Cornyn,’ accusing him of selling voters one thing on the trail and doing another in office.

‘He’s been in office since I was in college, and I’m 63,’ Paxton said. ‘And he’s been up here for 24 years. And I don’t care what he says. He’s a deceptive guy, a misleading guy. You know why? Because he doesn’t have a single thing to run on.’

Cornyn wondered if Paxton had ‘been sleeping under a rock somewhere’ when asked about his opponent’s challenges to his record.

‘My Senate office is generally recognized as the most effective office in the Senate, and that’s because we produced important legislation to the state, for the state and for the nation,’ Cornyn told Fox News Digital. ‘And the fact he’s unaware of it just does not speak well to his intelligence or his knowledge.’

Despite Paxton’s confidence that the race would be decided next week, Cornyn believed there would be a runoff between the two.

‘We’ll be rid of him after May 26,’ Cornyn said.

Hillary Clinton is claiming that Republican voter legislation will make it harder for married women to vote — an assertion GOP lawmakers and officials already say they’ve debunked.

‘You didn’t have to listen to Trump’s rambling speech last night to know that Republicans are trying to make it harder for millions of Americans to vote—especially married women,’ Clinton posted on X Wednesday. ‘They’ve already made it clear. Time to fight back.’ 

Clinton was referring to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night. 

The president called on Congress to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which would tighten election rules and require voters to present a photo ID at the polls and proof of U.S. citizenship.

The president said the legislation is critical in order to stop ‘illegal aliens and other unpermitted persons from voting.’

Congressional Democrats have panned the SAVE Act as a tool of voter suppression — saying it’s a bill that allows the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to monitor Americans’ voter information and create barriers for married women to vote, among several other claims.

The bill would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, mandate states to actively verify and remove noncitizens from voter rolls, expand information sharing with federal agencies, including DHS, to verify citizenship, and create new criminal penalties for registering noncitizens to vote.

But Clinton isn’t alone — other House Democrats earlier in February also similarly claimed that the legislation would leave married women unable to vote unless they changed their birth certificates to match other government-issued ID.

ButRepublicans say they’ve already addressed the claim and debunked it. 

‘This is absolute nonsense, and we specifically allow for a provision to make sure that no one can possibly be left behind,’ Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who led both the SAVE Act and SAVE America Act in the House, said, while arguing Democrats were ‘really reaching’ for criticism.

‘If a woman tried to register to vote with different names on her birth certificate and driver’s license,’ Roy said, ‘we literally put in the statute that all you have to do is sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury that, ‘I am that person. This is my birth certificate… and this is my driver’s license that is reflecting my married name.’’

The bill does list a birth certificate as one way voters can confirm their identity. It does not specify a last-name match requirement.

Voters can use ‘a certified birth certificate issued by a state in which the applicant was born… (that) includes the full name, date of birth and place of birth of the applicant’ to supplement other forms of identification.

Among other forms of valid paperwork, voters can also display a passport, a REAL ID or a military identification card to prove their citizenship.

Conservative legal group The Federalist Society presented a breakdown of the bill, which explicitly says that Americans who have changed their names — because of marriage or otherwise — are ‘not prevented from voting.’ 

‘The bipartisan federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is commanded by the SAVE Act to establish guidelines for states to accept supplementary documents — for instance, a marriage license — to prove citizenship when a voter’s birth certificate and current name do not match,’ the group’s page reads. ‘Those on the Left who claim that the SAVE Act will disenfranchise millions of married women are simply wrong; they ought to read the bill’s text and see that it provides mechanisms to ensure that this does not happen.’

Democratic events protesting President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address prompted sharp pushback from conservatives on social media and from Arkansas’ Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said the events painted a sharp contrast between the two parties.

Democrats held several counterprogramming events to Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday, including an event called ‘State of the Swamp,’ where far-left activists, including the Portland Frog Brigade, took to the stage dressed in animal costumes.

‘The difference today isn’t between right vs left,’ Sanders posted on X in response to a video of activists dressed up in frog costumes alongside Democratic Rep. Maxine Dexter. ‘It’s normal vs crazy.’

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Sanders added, ‘Last night, President Trump laid out a vision of a stronger, safer, more prosperous America — and the best counterargument the Democrats could provide were unhinged heckles, refusing to stand to celebrate the accomplishments of patriotic Americans, and a bizarre dress-up show.’

At another point in the event, an activist dressed in a giraffe costume took the stage criticizing ICE and calling Trump ‘pumpkin spice Satan.’ 

‘They always want to dress in animal costumes… WTF,’ Red State’s Jennifer Van Laar posted on X.

‘This is what Democrats are doing instead of attending President Trump’s State of the Union speech,’ a Republican National Committee account posted on X. ‘Democrats are literally hanging out with deranged Leftists dressed in giraffe costumes bragging about getting arrested by ICE.’

‘Who is advising the Democrats and how do we make sure they never quit?’ conservative commentator Riley Gaines posted on X.

‘These people are weird,’ Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, posted on X.

‘They don’t just hate America… they’re mentally ill,’ comedian Tim Young posted on X.

Dozens of Democrats boycotted Trump’s speech, with many attending events like State of the Swamp or the People’s State of the Union, which was held in the frigid temperatures outside the Capitol.

‘Not one more dime to the Department of Homeland Security until they start following the law in this country,’ Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told a crowd of protesters gathered outside.

The event, organized by MoveOn and co-hosted by the Midas Touch Network, featured a number of House and Senate Democratic lawmakers who opted to skip Trump’s address, which they said would be filled with ‘lie after lie’ and ignore what they described as a country ‘in crisis.’

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

Democrat events protesting President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address prompted sharp pushback from conservatives on social media and from Arkansas Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said the events painted a sharp contrast between the two parties.

Democrats held several counter-programming events to Trump’s State of the Union speech on Tuesday, including an event called ‘State of the Swamp,’ where far-left activists, including the Portland Frog Brigade, took to the stage dressed in animal costumes.

‘The difference today isn’t between right vs left,’ Sanders posted on X in response to a video of activists dressed up in frog costumes alongside Democreatic Rep. Maxine Dexter. ‘It’s normal vs crazy.’

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Sanders added, ‘Last night, President Trump laid out a vision of a stronger, safer, more prosperous America — and the best counterargument the Democrats could provide were unhinged heckles, refusing to stand to celebrate the accomplishments of patriotic Americans, and a bizarre dress-up show.’

At another point in the event, an activist dressed in a giraffe costume took the stage criticizing ICE and calling Trump ‘pumpkin spice Satan.’ 

‘They always want to dress in animal costumes… WTF,’ Red State’s Jennifer Van Laar posted on X.

‘This is what Democrats are doing instead of attending President Trump’s State of the Union speech,’ a Republican National Committee account posted on X. ‘Democrats are literally hanging out with deranged Leftists dressed in giraffe costumes bragging about getting arrested by ICE.’

‘Who is advising the Democrats and how do we make sure they never quit?’ Conservative commentator Riley Gaines posted on X.

‘These people are weird,’ GOP Sen. Ted Cruz posted on X.

‘They don’t just hate America… they’re mentally ill,’ comedian Tim Young posted on X.

Dozens of Democrats boycotted Trump’s speech, with many attending events like State of the Swamp or the People’s State of the Union, which was held in the frigid temperatures outside the capitol.

‘Not one more dime to the Department of Homeland Security until they start following the law in this country,’ Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told a crowd of protesters gathered outside.

The event, organized by MoveOn and co-hosted by the Midas Touch Network, featured a number of House and Senate Democratic lawmakers who opted to skip Trump’s address, which they said would be filled with ‘lie after lie’ and ignore what they described as a country ‘in crisis.’

Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.

Country superstar Luke Combs is pushing back on labels from both sides of the political aisle, saying rejecting racism shouldn’t automatically brand someone as ‘liberal.’

In a wide-ranging conversation touching on culture, politics and the evolution of country music, Combs addressed criticism he faced in recent years — particularly after speaking out during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement and apologizing for past use of Confederate flag imagery.

During the New York Times’ ‘Popcast,’ Combs was asked if he regrets how he handled that criticism, particularly now that culture and country music specifically have shifted away from those kinds of call-outs.

He said that he doesn’t regret it.

‘It’s funny. There’s always something in my video. It’s like, ‘Well I can’t believe you’d like Luke Combs, he’s a liberal’ or whatever it is. … One, I’ve never said what I am. That’s the thing that blows me away the most about it is, like, basically seven or whatever years ago, five, six years ago now, me saying that I was not a racist was then people saying, ‘Well then you must be a liberal’ … I’m not sure those things really [equate].

‘I’ve been accused of a million things, man. Like, I would consider myself heavily moderate in everything. … That’s to the point where like I’m not liberal enough for liberals, and I’m not conservative enough for conservatives, right? And I kind of like it that way.

‘Also I kind of like people not really (knowing) what I have going on politically. Like, why do we all care what everybody else is? … I have friends that are liberal. I have tons of friends that are conservative. You know, I have friends all across the board.’

‘There was a time when people were trying to actively cancel me for basically saying like, ‘Hey, man. Well, this guy’s, you know, he’s a liberal or whatever.’ … I never said that.’

— Luke Combs

The host asked, ‘You’re in an interesting industry. The reason I’m framing it this way is, like, you’re in one of the only mainstream American industries where the norm is to not say ‘I’m not a racist’ … and especially now, like you could be canceled from the right.’

‘Oh, certainly you could be for sure. For sure. And I mean, listen, there was a time when people were trying to actively cancel me for basically saying like, ‘Hey, man. Well, this guy’s, you know, he’s a liberal or whatever.’ … I never said that. Never said I was liberal. … How is it hard to say you’re not like a racist? That’s all I’m saying.’

Combs released his first EP, ‘The Way She Rides,’ in 2014, which was years prior to the release of his debut album, ‘This One’s for You,’ in 2017. Combs’ popular song ‘Hurricane’ was featured on this album, as well as ‘When It Rains It Pours.’

Many viral Combs moments have come from his cover of Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car.’ After performing ‘Fast Car’ at many of his shows, the singer released the cover in 2023. His cover of the ’80s song rose to the top of music charts.

Aside from his chart-topping music, Combs is married to Nicole Hocking. The two tied the knot in August 2020 in Florida before welcoming their three sons, Tex Lawrence Combs, Beau Lee Combs and Chet Wiley Combs.

Fox News Digital’s Ashlyn Messier contributed to this report.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called President Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address Tuesday night ‘lazy,’ but history tells another story: Trump broke his own record for the longest such speech in American history.

In fact, Trump, the oldest American president ever inaugurated, has delivered three of the top five longest State of the Union addresses. His Tuesday night speech clocked in at nearly 1 hour and 48 minutes, making it number one, according to the American Presidency Project (APP).

‘I thought the speech was lazy,’ Pelosi told CNN after the speech.

Historically, most State of the Union addresses last about an hour.

Trump and former President Bill Clinton are the Energizer bunnies of State of the Union addresses, with the two men rounding out the top five of all-time longest speeches (including Trump’s 2025 speech before a joint session of Congress, which was technically not a State of the Union because it was in the first year of his term) in terms of total time, including pauses for standing ovations and applause:

– 1 hour, 48 minutes

– 1 hour, 40 minutes 

– 1 hour, 29 minutes

– 1 hour, 25 minutes

– 1 hour, 22 minutes

Tuesday night officially gave Trump the top billing from Clinton among official State of the Union addresses.

Trump also holds the unofficial record for the most words in a delivered speech, with his 2026 address estimated at 10,599 words, according to APP. There were some State of the Union addresses in American history delivered only in written form that measured longer by word count.

Pelosi was put off by Trump taking time to hail American excellence, like the gold-medal-winning Team USA men’s hockey team, and addressing victims of violence, including Charlie Kirk widow Erika Kirk, Purple Heart recipient Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, 24, and the Gold Star parents of the late West Virginia National Guard member, U.S. Army Spc. Sarah Beckstrom, 20.

Wolfe and Beckstrom were shot by an Afghanistan war refugee while serving as part of the Trump administration security detail in Washington, D.C., last year.

‘It’s one thing to acknowledge patriotism and people getting well and everything when you have absolutely nothing to do with their courage or the rest,’ Pelosi told CNN. ‘But you spend an hour and a half doing it — what is the state of the nation?’

During his speech, the president directly addressed Pelosi while calling on Congress to ‘pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay.’

The bill, which has 91 Republican and two Democratic co-sponsors in the House, proposes restricting members of Congress, along with their spouses and dependents, from trading stocks.

‘Let’s also ensure that members of Congress cannot corruptly profit from using insider information,’ Trump remarked, to one of the few moments of bipartisan applause. 

‘They stood up for that. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it,’ he added, pointing to the Democrat side of the House chamber.

‘Did Nancy Pelosi stand up – if she’s here – doubt it,’ he continued. ‘Pass the Stop Insider Trading Act without delay.’

Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, have faced scrutiny for their investments in recent years. The former House speaker is one of the wealthiest members of Congress.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.