Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday he would consider dropping out of the U.S. Senate race if Senate GOP leaders agreed to abolish the filibuster and pass a priority piece of legislation for President Donald Trump.

Paxton made the statement in a social media post that also criticized his opponent in Texas’ Senate Republican primary, incumbent John Cornyn, for being against scrapping the filibuster to pass the bill, known as the SAVE America ACT. It would require people to provide proof of citizenship — such as a birth certificate or passport — when they register to vote and present photo identification at the polls, among other new election-related rules.

Cornyn is a supporter of the legislation, though he and other Senate Republicans have long bristled at talk of abolishing the filibuster, a parliamentary tool that, in practice, requires support from 60 senators in the 100-member chamber to bring a bill up for a vote. CNN reported last month that Cornyn would not say whether he backed ending the filibuster to pass the proposal, which the Senate's 53 Republicans cannot pass amid unified opposition from Democrats.

“I repeat what I have consistently said: I support the bill and have encouraged Senate Republicans to get it done,” Cornyn said in response to Paxton’s post, without addressing his position on the filibuster.

Paxton’s offer to drop out appears designed to make a political point, more than anything else, by drawing attention to Cornyn’s reluctance to get rid of the filibuster. But it marks the first time he has raised the prospect of leaving the race amid intense lobbying by Senate GOP leaders for Trump to endorse Cornyn.

Paxton forced Cornyn into a runoff after Tuesday’s primary – and immediately set off a scramble to win the backing of Trump, who was neutral in the first round. Trump said Wednesday he would make an endorsement “soon” and would expect the candidate he did not endorse to drop out, citing “the good of the Party.”

Since then, Cornyn and his allies in Senate leadership have renewed their case to Trump that he should back the incumbent because he is more likely to win the general election than Paxton. Before his social media post about the SAVE America Act, Paxton had insisted he would not drop out even if Trump endorsed Cornyn.

“The people in Washington can have their own opinion,” Paxton told conservative personality Benny Johnson on Thursday. “The president can have his own opinion. But I’ve been in this race for almost a year, and we’re going to win this race in the runoff.”

Paxton’s defiance appeared to irk Trump, who told Politico in an interview Thursday, “That is bad for him. So maybe, maybe that leads me to go the other direction.” The public split was notable given Paxton’s long-running loyalty to the president, displayed most visibly when he waged an unsuccessful legal challenge to Trump’s 2020 election loss.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, has been skeptical of finding ways around the filibuster to pass the SAVE Act, let alone abolishing it.

Senate Republicans do not have the votes to eliminate the filibuster outright. Ardent supporters of the SAVE Act have called for a restoration of the talking filibuster, a practice that would not require changing Senate rules but is rarely used. With a talking filibuster, Republicans could keep the Senate open indefinitely, forcing Democrats to delay a vote by making speeches.

But in practice, that would be difficult to accomplish. Each Democrat would get the ability to speak for an indefinite amount of time twice, meaning the filibuster could go on for weeks. Republicans would be responsible for maintaining a quorum, meaning nearly all of the chamber’s 53 Republicans would need to stick close to the floor at all times, or Democrats could restart their filibuster. 

Additionally, Democrats could offer unlimited amendments at a simple-majority threshold if the filibuster is broken, which could lead to unrelated items being added to the bill — potentially compelling GOP senators to take positions on difficult topics Democrats want to be talking about during an election year. And the whole process could grind the Senate to a halt amid war in the Middle East. 

Thune has said there is disagreement within the GOP conference about how to proceed.

But Trump has kept up the pressure.

“The Republicans MUST DO, with PASSION, and at the expense of everything else, THE SAVE AMERICA ACT - And not the watered down version,” Trump wrote Thursday on his Truth Social network. “This is a Country Defining fight for the Soul of our Nation!”

Disclosure: Politico has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.