'Good grief!' CNN host astonished as Trump delivers seismic shakeup in heated race

CNN's Sara Sidner couldn't hide her surprise at President Donald Trump's instant impact on the Texas Senate runoff.

The 79-year-old president shook up the Republican race by endorsing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in next week's runoff election, and CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten examined polling data and the prediction market showing the effect that move had on the campaign.

" Trump is the general of the Republican Party and Republican primary voters are, in fact, his soldiers, and you can see it in the Texas polling his impact of an endorsement," Enten said. "Now, this is, of course, before, of course, the endorsement came down. But look at this: 55 percent of Texas Republicans said they would be more likely to vote for the candidate that he endorsed, versus just 36 percent who said no impact, just 9 percent said that they'd be less likely to vote for the candidate endorsed. The bottom line is this: What Donald Trump wants, he almost always gets in Republican primaries."

That shows up on the Kalshi prediction market, the TV segment's sponsor, according to Enten.

"You could just see the movement towards Ken Paxton," Enten said.

"Good grief!" Sidner exclaimed, as Enten pulled up the data on his screen.

"Look at this: On Monday [Paxton] had a 66 percent chance of winning – up like a rocket – right up like a rocket, 95 percent," Enten continued. "Houston, if you are, in fact, John Cornyn, you have a big problem. But if you're Ken Paxton, you have a big time solution. Two thumbs up, as the president likes to say. Right now, the Kalshi prediction market giving two thumbs up to the idea that Ken Paxton is, in fact, going to be the Republican nominee."

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