It’s the Troll vs. the Bore in the G.O.P. Texas Senate Runoff

Opinion|Paxton Is a Texas-Size Troll. Is That What G.O.P. Voters Want?

How far can Republicans go as a party of trolls? The answer suggested by Donald Trump, president of these United States, is … awfully far.

Mr. Trump is sui generis. But what about Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas? Throughout his career and in the Republican Senate primary, he has explored the outer limits of the troll-as-tribune model of politics.

So far, that’s been working out pretty well for him. Sure, he forced his way into a primary runoff against John Cornyn, a four-term incumbent senator who received tens of millions of dollars of support, a lopsided financial advantage in the most expensive Senate primary on record. All that money didn’t close the deal, and it generally means trouble when an incumbent faces a runoff. Mr. Paxton might very well be the G.O.P. nominee to face the Democratic Senate candidate, James Talarico, a mild-mannered Presbyterian seminarian Texas Democrats chose over their own more trollish candidate, Representative Jasmine Crockett.

An endorsement from President Trump could prove dispositive for either Republican candidate. There are Trump loyalists supporting both candidates — the presidential campaign manager Chris LaCivita is a senior adviser for a Pro-Cornyn super PAC, and the impresario Steve Bannon has thrown his weight behind Mr. Paxton — but the president, disinclined to risk backing a loser in the primary and fearful of giving up a Senate seat in November, offered no endorsement before Tuesday’s election. It might also be the case that the voters who supported the third primary candidate, Wesley Hunt, himself a Trumpist, will turn to Mr. Cornyn and not Mr. Paxton in the runoff.

Nothing is certain. But the fact that Mr. Paxton has come so far without explicit support from the White House cannot be seen as anything other than a victory for the Texas attorney general and his brand of politics.

Mr. Paxton’s trolling his way through a Republican primary is one thing, but a general election is something else. It’s not that the Democrats are immune from the trolling temptation — Ms. Crockett rode that pony a long way — but Mr. Paxton might be described, without exaggeration, as the most scandal-plagued politician in the country. And he has achieved the feat of ousting Ted Cruz as Texas’s least likable elected official.