John Cornyn spent years getting ready to run for Senate majority chief. Will it’s sufficient?

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has by no means misplaced an election.

On Wednesday, he’ll see if he can proceed his streak, cashing in a long time of political capital as he runs to turn into the subsequent Senate majority chief to exchange Mitch McConnell, who’s held the place for 17 years.

It’ll be the best workplace Cornyn has ever run for, however no Texans will forged a poll — save for himself and Texas’ junior senator, Ted Cruz. Management is determined by the 53 Republican members of the subsequent Senate in a secret poll vote. The stakes had been raised final week when Republicans gained a majority within the Senate, making the get together chief the agenda setter for the entire chamber and a core legislative accomplice for the incoming Trump administration.

Cornyn, a McConnell protégé who beforehand served as Republican whip and chair of the Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee, is up towards the present Minority Whip John Thune of South Dakota and former NRSC Chair Rick Scott of Florida. Like Cornyn, Thune is a decorous lawmaker who spent years near McConnell and is nicely regarded all through the convention. Scott represents a more recent, extra right-wing era of the Republican convention who has brazenly butt heads with McConnell and appeals to the MAGA wing of the get together.

Cornyn has for years signaled his want to succeed McConnell, the longest serving get together chief in Senate historical past. As whip, Cornyn was McConnell’s No. 2 and stored the convention on board with the management’s agenda by addressing every senator’s particular person wants and pursuits. He helped elect a number of present senators whereas main the NRSC, the get together’s Senate marketing campaign arm. He has actively campaigned and fundraised on behalf of Republicans this election cycle, elevating practically $33 million and touring the nation to assist incumbents and new candidates alike. These ties have fashioned a key element in his bid for chief.

“One of the things that people do expect of the leadership is to raise money for the team. You see that with Speaker [Mike] Johnson in the House. You see that with Sen. McConnell in the Senate,” Cornyn stated in September. “Demonstrating my experience and my contribution to this effort, my ability, along with my team, to do it is something people are going to want to consider when it comes to the leadership election.”

Cornyn can be operating on his legislative file. He’s a member of three of probably the most coveted Senate committees: Judiciary, Finance and Intelligence. He has suggested and superior judicial confirmations beneath Republican and Democratic presidents. He typically works throughout the aisle to get main laws handed, together with the CHIPS and Science Act to bolster the nation’s semiconductor trade and counter competitors from Asia.

However Cornyn’s lengthy tenure within the Senate has opened him to criticism from the fitting at house — a few of it so rabid they’re actively rooting towards Cornyn to win the management function. He was censured by the Collin County Republican Get together and booed on the 2022 Texas Republican Get together Conference after he drove the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the primary gun security invoice to move into regulation in a long time, which he labored on after the Uvalde college taking pictures. In latest days, each the Tarrant County and Dallas County Republican Events issued statements rejecting Cornyn as an acceptable Senate chief.

“The U.S. Senate needs a Majority Leader who is fully committed to conservative principles and who will champion the policies of President [Donald] Trump,” Dallas County Republican Get together Allen West wrote in an open letter to Senate Republicans. “Senators John Cornyn and John Thune have consistently aligned themselves with Democrats and voted for omnibus bills that fail to serve the interests of America and its citizens.”

Each West and Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French are two of the state’s loudest and most far-right Republican county leaders.

Texas Lawyer Common Ken Paxton ridiculed Cornyn, himself a former Texas legal professional basic, after McConnell introduced he can be stepping down. Paxton posted on social media that Cornyn shouldn’t be Senate chief as a result of he’s “anti-Trump, anti-gun,” and can be too busy heading off challengers when he’s up for reelection in 2026.

“Republicans deserve better in their next leader and Texans deserve another conservative senator,” stated Paxton, who has not dominated out operating towards Cornyn.

In an uncommon public alternate for the senator who often shrugs off critics, Cornyn responded: “Hard to run from prison, Ken,” in reference to Paxton’s quite a few authorized challenges. No Senate majority chief has misplaced reelection since Sen. Ernest McFarland in 1952, although Thune entered the Senate in 2005 defeating then-Democratic Minority Chief Tom Daschle in South Dakota.

A number of different outstanding members of the MAGA motion have additionally rallied round Scott within the days earlier than the management election. Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene all threw their help behind Scott, criticizing each Cornyn and Thune for his or her work with McConnell, who has turn into a pariah among the many most conservative flanks of the get together.

However none of these outdoors voices could have a say within the management vote. The anonymity of the vote additionally permits senators to vote extra candidly primarily based on their very own relationships with the candidates.

Whereas his approval score has dipped lately amongst Texas Republicans, Cornyn has maintained good standing with many outstanding Republicans in Texas. He and Cruz have labored collectively repeatedly on laws impacting the state and on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and each supported one another’s reelection efforts, although Cruz hasn’t stated how he’s voting on the management election.

Texas Republican Get together Chair Abraham George, who chaired the Collin County get together when it censured Cornyn, met with the senator in September to coordinate efforts electing Republicans within the state.

“I truly appreciate all your efforts in what is such a pivotal election in our nation’s history,” George posted on social media after their assembly. “We are going to win Texas and we are going to win big!”

A Texan has not been a celebration chief within the Senate since Lyndon B. Johnson. Previous leaders have used the place to profit their house states, together with Johnson, who used the perch to assist safe Houston’s place as the middle of the U.S. area program.

A pacesetter in fundraising

Cornyn has been climbing the management ladder since his first time period in Congress. He served as Republican convention vice chair from 2007 to 2009 as a first-term senator, succeeding fellow Texan Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

His affect took a leap when he was elected to function the NRSC chair in 2009, making him the chief fundraiser and recruiter for Senate Republicans apart from the get together chief himself. It’s a grueling job, however Cornyn thrived. Paired with a 2010 Tea Get together wave, Republicans managed to defend all 18 of their incumbents for the primary time in 16 years and gained six extra seats. Cornyn’s colleagues requested him to serve a second time for the 2012 cycle.

Texas is famously house to a bunch of ultra-rich Republican donors who’ve financed campaigns for years. Cornyn proved himself an efficient fundraiser as Texas legal professional basic from 1999 to 2002. He was one of many first members of the Republican Attorneys Common Affiliation, internet hosting an Austin fundraiser in 2000 for his fellow state AGs that introduced in tons of of hundreds of {dollars}. That scale of fundraising for attorneys basic was novel on the time and attracted controversy as company donors gave to candidates who might be concerned of their circumstances. Democrats created their very own attorneys basic fundraising group in 2002.

His fundraising attain expanded throughout his time on the NRSC, constructing relationships with main donor swimming pools in New York, Florida and California. He courted Wall Avenue in 2010 to provide to Republican candidates as then-President Barack Obama pursued regulatory coverage to keep away from a repeat of the 2008 monetary disaster.

“I just don’t know how long you can expect people to contribute money to a political party whose main plank of their platform is to punish you,” Cornyn stated in 2010.

In the course of the 2022 cycle, Cornyn raised extra money than every other Senate Republican, together with these up for election, excluding McConnell himself and Scott, who was then chairing the NRSC. And in contrast to McConnell, whose Senate Management Fund is choosier by which candidates it invests in — it didn’t donated to Cruz this cycle — Cornyn offers to all of his fellow Republicans.

This cycle, Cornyn raised practically $33 million for Republican senators and candidates, together with $16 million for the NRSC. That features over $500,000 for Cruz, who got here out victorious over U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, one of the crucial costly Senate races in Texas historical past.

Since becoming a member of the Senate, Cornyn’s fundraising complete is over $414 million. He additionally traveled across the nation campaigning and fundraising for fellow Republicans, together with Cruz, Mike Rogers in Michigan, Sam Brown in Nevada, Jim Banks in Indiana, Bernie Moreno in Ohio and Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania. Banks, Moreno and McCormick all gained their elections.

“He’s never taken his foot off the gas,” stated Brian Walsh, who served as Cornyn’s communications director on the NRSC and nonetheless is in contact along with his operation. “In terms of having Republican senators and candidates down to Texas, introducing them to his network, helping them raise money … I would argue there’s very few senators who are more responsible for the Republican Senate majority than he is.”

Thune can be a prolific fundraiser and crisscrossed the nation this cycle attending over 200 occasions for Republicans or the NRSC. He has raised over $33 million throughout his fundraising operation this cycle and was one of many high fundraisers for the NRSC apart from the present chair, Steve Daines of Montana, NBC Information reported.

The Trump issue

Cornyn has proven willingness to diverge from the present chief if the remainder of the get together requires it. That features shaking up some lengthy standing guidelines.

Cornyn is vowing to maneuver heaven and earth to get Trump’s cupboard confirmed as swiftly as attainable. That features maintaining senators by the weekends to get nominees confirmed (Cornyn is a vocal critic of the quick working week and frequent breaks within the Senate) and even bringing again recess appointments, which permits the president to unilaterally make appointments when the Senate isn’t in session.

Each Republicans and Democrats have prevented presidents from making recess appointments by sending a single senator to Washington to maintain periods going whereas everybody else was of their house states. However Trump known as for the transfer to get his agenda shifting — a mandate the entire candidates had been keen to simply accept.

“No weekends, no breaks,” Cornyn posted on social media Saturday. “Democrats can cooperate in the best interest of the country, or continue the resistance, which will eventually be ground down. Take your pick.”

Cornyn has additionally expressed an openness to time period limits for the get together chief — a transfer McConnell opposes. And he has vowed to open up the legislative course of to soak up extra enter from the rank and file by common Senate order, together with debating laws in committee earlier than they hit the ground. McConnell has been criticized for main offers with strict management of his convention, with Cruz calling him a “one-man dictator.”

“I believe our members and incoming colleagues have the talent, experience, and character needed to restore the Senate to its fundamental role in our constitutional republic, inducing the critical role of Senate committees in achieving results for the American people,” Cornyn wrote in a September letter to the convention.

Scott and Thune have made comparable pitches to make the chamber extra participatory. Thune is the one one of many three who has chaired a standing committee, main the Senate Commerce Committee from 2015 to 2019.

McConnell’s clashing with the fitting wing of the get together stretches again years. He has been hostile towards the extra reactionary strategies of some newer members to dam laws, and several other proper wing members blamed McConnell for failing to take management of the Senate in 2022.

McConnell confronted his first actual management problem in 2022 when Scott launched a bid and secured 10 votes. Cruz, who has beefed with McConnell all through his time within the Senate, voted for Scott.

Scott has nonetheless managed to seize the help of a number of members of the MAGA wing of the get together. He obtained public endorsements from senators together with Tennessee’s Invoice Hagerty, Kentucky’s Rand Paul and Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville.

Cruz has not endorsed within the race. He stated in February: “I suspect a number of my colleagues are interested in the job, and I look forward to seeing whom the conference selects as the next leader as we hopefully enter the majority this November.” His office did not have a further update, but he recently said on Fox News: “I want to see a majority leader who changes how the Senate operates, who democratizes it more.”

Trump has additionally not endorsed within the race, although Scott and his allies have requested Trump accomplish that. Trump and McConnell shared an epicly bitter relationship, significantly after Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election escalated into an assault on the U.S. Capitol.

Each Thune and Cornyn broke from Trump after his time in workplace, with Cornyn saying as not too long ago as final 12 months that Trump couldn’t win in a basic election and that his “time has passed him by.”

However Cornyn endorsed Trump in January after Trump gained within the New Hampshire main. He later campaigned with Trump in Texas and Nevada and attended fundraisers for the Trump marketing campaign in Laredo, San Antonio and Houston, in response to a supply aware of Cornyn’s political operation.

Cornyn has additionally highlighted his work advancing Trump’s coverage agenda when he was whip, telling Trump “I’m interested in getting the band back together again,” Cornyn stated Monday on Fox Information. He superior the convention by its in the end unsuccessful repeal try of the Reasonably priced Care Act and the Trump tax cuts which have turn into certainly one of Trump’s defining items of laws.

Cornyn’s and Thune’s supporters are opting to be extra personal, with solely Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri brazenly backing Cornyn and Sens. Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma backing Thune. Hawley is a deeply conservative member who joined Cruz in objecting to the certification of the 2020 election.

Repeating a chorus he has stated all year long, Cornyn stated in September: “I don’t think these races are run in the press, so I’m not going to talk any length about it.”