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.

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.

"These cowards deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold," Paxton said in a statement.