Anti-Muslim rhetoric has emerged as a strong ingredient in the looming Republican Texas primary as candidates race to raise fears about the spread of Sharia law in the state and present themselves as the toughest option to oppose it.
From the heated Senate primary to local races, Republican candidates are vowing to fight hardest against a proposed 1,000-home residential development centered around a mosque north of Dallas, while issuing dire warnings about the alleged threat of Islam and questioning their opponents’ commitment to the cause.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and his main opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, have battled in attack ads over that bill and the Afghan refugee resettlement program, sometimes resorting to inflammatory anti-Islamic rhetoric. Cornyn called for a federal investigation into the project; Paxton launched several investigations and in December sued the development for alleged securities fraud.
Texas is a very diverse state, with non-Hispanic whites making up less than two-fifths of its total population — a flashpoint for years on the right. The state’s relatively small but rapidly growing Muslim population has become a serious problem for Republicans seeking to distinguish themselves in competitive races. This year’s GOP ads — which range from condemning terrorist attacks to burning the Koran — represent an escalation of the rhetoric the party has long used to rally voters.
“The Muslim community is the bogeyman of this cycle,” said Texas GOP consultant Vinny Minchillo. “One hundred percent this message is working — there’s no doubt about it. This has been polled across the board, and with Republican primary voters in Texas, it’s working. It’s something they legitimately fear.”
Muslim advocacy organizations and Democrats condemn the ads as racist and grossly inaccurate characterizations of those communities.
“The Texas GOP has declared war on Texas Islam by claiming that Islamic leaders in the state are implementing Sharia law and using it in court,” said Joel Montfort, a North Texas Democratic strategist. “None of this is true, it’s just fearmongering and racism to stir up the GOP base and get them to vote.”
A POLITICO analysis identified ads in half a dozen early 2025 races that highlighted “Sharia law,” according to data from AdImpact, which tracks political advertising. All were from or supported Republican candidates promoting their fights against her, and most were Texas regulars.
Last week, Cornyn released a seven-figure model ad buy titled “The Evil Face” declaring “Radical Islam is a bloodthirsty ideology,” referencing the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the December shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia. The ad also references his bill to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy organization.
Paxton has left after Cornyn’s past support for an Afghan refugee resettlement program. And in his capacity as Attorney General, Paxton said The project is an “illegal land development scheme” and its leaders are “engaged in a radical plot to destroy hundreds of acres of beautiful Texas land and line their own pockets.”
In the four-way GOP race for Texas attorney general, candidate Aaron Reitz said in a ad this week revealed that “Islam is not compatible with Western civilization” and vows to “stop the invasion” of Muslims. Reitz served less than a year at the Justice Department before launching his bid for attorney general. His opponent, state Sen. Mayes Middleton, also has ad boasting that he is running to “stop Sharia law” in Texas.
And, most provocatively, Valentina Gomez launch Her run for Texas’ 31st congressional district last year with a video showing her burning a Koran and declaring that “your daughters will be raped and your sons will be beheaded unless we stop Islam once and for all.” Gomez, who is challenging Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), who is endorsed by President Donald Trump, is a well-known conservative activist and challenger who won just 8 percent of the primary vote when she ran for Missouri secretary of state last year.
Anti-Muslim sentiment in the US arose in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which some Republicans used to rally their base for political gains. False right-wing rumors persisted that Barack Hussein Obama was a secret Muslim since his ascension to the White House and years after. The planned construction of a mosque at Ground Zero became a right-wing cause célèbre early in his presidency, with several national Republican figures moving against it.
Trump has heightened these sentiments, first raising conspiracy theories that Obama was not born in the US, then repeatedly disparaging Muslims, promising in his 2016 campaign to ban Muslims from entering the country, and once he became president, implementing travel bans against Muslim-majority countries. Tuesday, Trump reposted a comment calling Islam a “cult”.
But in recent years, Islam hasn’t been as much of a focus in GOP campaigns — until now.
The Texas ads come as Republicans across the country have placed increased scrutiny on CAIR, the largest U.S. Muslim advocacy group. Sameeha Rizvi, CAIR Action Texas Policy and Advocacy coordinator, called Cornyn’s ad “defamatory and despicable” and born out of “desperation to compete with Ken Paxton’s anti-Muslim bigotry.”
“CAIR is not going anywhere, American Muslims are not going anywhere, and our community will show its strength at the polls, God willing,” Rizvi said in a statement.
Cornyn co-sponsored legislation with Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Montana) that seeks to revoke CAIR’s tax-exempt status. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, who is also in the Texas attorney general race, introduced a similar bill last year.
When a super PAC on Cornyn’s behalf launched a attack against Paxton on Thursday, calling him “weird” and highlighting the divorce and alleged extramarital affairs, Paxton shot back on X : “This desperate joy cannot erase the fact that he [Cornyn] he helped radical Islamic Afghans invade Texas and that his family makes a fortune securing visas for foreigners.”
Paxton referred to Cornyn’s past support for increasing the number of special immigrant visas available to Afghans following the Taliban takeover of the country in 2021. Cornyn, who once supported the program, reverse course along with other Republicans late last year after the shooting of two National Guardsmen by an Afghan who had been granted asylum in the US on grounds that screening of applicants was inadequate.
Cornyn answered Paxton’s attacks with a digital advertising stating that Paxton talks tough but is actually “soft on radical Islam,” claiming that Paxton directed $2.5 million to resettle Afghan refugees in Texas, and that his former attorney who defended him during impeachment proceedings now represents the Islamic Center of East Plano.
Several ads from various candidates in Texas use images of the East Plano Islamic Center project, which would also feature a K-12 school and retail. Texas leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, have said the presence of the planned Muslim community raises national security concerns. The East Plano Islamic Center did not respond to a request for comment.
“Texans care overwhelmingly about this — they’re looking at transforming their communities in radical ways,” said Reitz, the attorney general candidate.
“You look at the number of mosques that have been built in Texas in the last 10 to 20 years, and it’s explosive,” he said. “It’s alarming for good reasons, and I think Republican voters, in particular, are looking to their public office holders to address it, and so it’s such a pressing issue that I’ve chosen to really lean into it.”
Cornyn’s ad states that “Sharia law has no place in American courts or communities,” a reference to the development. Trump’s Justice Department also launched a civil rights investigation into the project last year after Cornyn asked the federal government to investigate “religious discrimination.”
The project was already on the radar of Paxton, which had opened the first of several wells in its construction. In December, Paxton — whose candidacy is bolstered by his reputation as an aggressive attorney general who frequently files lawsuits on behalf of MAGA causes — sued development for alleged securities fraud.
Department of Justice quietly closed his investigation last summer without filing charges. But Abbott still went ahead and signed several laws last year banning “Sharia compounds” and designating CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations. In response, CAIR sued Texas, arguing that the action was unconstitutional and defamatory.
Paxton, in his official capacity as Attorney General, said Last week, the state comptroller can bar private schools from the school voucher program if they violate newly signed anti-terrorism laws, saying “Texans’ tax dollars should never fund Islamic terrorists or America’s enemies.”