U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is lining up high-profile endorsements. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Chief National Guard Bureau
A new and lengthy list of endorsements from prominent San Antonio GOP officeholders and business leaders for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn shines light on the four-term incumbent’s strategy as he heads into a tough primary season.
On Tuesday, the Texas Republican’s campaign released a list exclusively to the Current of more than 40 prominent Alamo City conservatives backing his reelection. They range from former House members Henry Bonilla and Lamar Smith to one-time Bexar County Commissioner Trish DeBerry and businessman Charlie Amato, who chairs financial-services firm SWBC.
The Cornyn campaign has also rolled out dozens of endorsements from the Dallas and Houston areas along with 200 from the state’s Rio Grande Valley and border region.
Cornyn’s strategy of lining up a deep bench of endorsements appears to be a bid to remind voters in deep-red Texas that he’s continued to toe the Republican Party line and deliver on its agenda even as his two MAGA primary challengers question his bonafides.
“We are building a statewide organization that harnesses the broad and deep political support that Sen. Cornyn has earned over his time in public office,” senior Cornyn campaign advisor Matt Mackowiak told the Current via email. “There is enthusiasm for Sen. Cornyn’s re-election across all 254 counties in our state and we will continue to roll out regional supporter lists throughout the primary.”
Cornyn — a pro-business conservative who grew up in San Antonio and began his political career here — faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt in what’s expected to be a bruising GOP primary.
Although Cornyn benefits from a hefty war chest, high-profile Trump allies Paxton and Hunt have vied to paint him as a RINO, or Republican In Name Only. Paxton heads into the contest with high name recognition among GOP primary voters, but he’s also dragging along scandals including his near-impeachment by Texas Legislature and alleged affair with a married Christian influencer.
An October poll of likely Republican primary voters by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs and Texas Southern University’s Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs shows Cornyn and Paxton polling nearly evenly and both more than 10 points ahead of Hunt.
Whoever wins the Republican primary is likely to face off against U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas or Texas Rep. James Talarico of the Austin area in the general. Both Crockett and Talarico are considered rising stars in the Democratic Party, and political observers have given them more likely odds to win over the scandal-plagued Paxton than Cornyn.
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Her critics would prefer a lesser-known candidate who can concoct a bipartisan pitch. But the Dallas congresswoman believes she’s starting ‘on second or third base.’
The campaign comes with the Senate voting Thursday whether to extend the expiring tax credits and also as Cornyn enters a tough election cycle.
The move comes just after former North Texas congressman Colin Allred dropped from the race.