Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the man he is vying to unseat in next year’s Republican primary, US Sen. John Cornyn, are both using the powers of their offices to try to pressure the Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to prevent a vote on a GOP-led redistricting plan.

The annual summer break is a critical window for Texas’ senior senator, whose allies are blitzing the airwaves with ads courting primary voters — and President Donald Trump.

As Texas Republicans battle with state House Democrats, who fled to block the GOP’s ability to pass new congressional maps, there’s an intraparty skirmish proceeding just as fiercely on the sidelines: the state’s contentious Republican Senate primary.