{"id":352651,"date":"2026-06-27T13:36:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/352651\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T13:36:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T13:36:28","slug":"cornyn-opposes-texas-republicans-push-to-close-gop-primaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/352651\/","title":{"rendered":"Cornyn opposes Texas Republicans\u2019 push to close GOP primaries"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Sen. John Cornyn<\/a> on Friday came out against top Texas Republicans\u2019 efforts to close the state\u2019s GOP primaries, warning that to do so would be \u201cpaving the way to minority party status.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas is one of 17 states with open primaries, where eligible voters can register without declaring a party affiliation and then vote in either party\u2019s primary, a system proponents say helps drive voter participation. The Texas Republican Party and its top elected leaders, citing concerns about Democrats infiltrating GOP primaries, have pushed to close the contests by requiring voters to register with a party \u2014 and limiting access to registered Republicans.<\/p>\n

Cornyn, arguing the move would backfire on his party, promoted<\/a> on social media a Dallas Morning News op-ed<\/a> that argued closed primaries would further curtail turnout, concentrating power in \u201can increasingly narrow group of voters who meet a particular political test.\u201d In his post, Cornyn shared the op-ed title, which called closed primaries \u201ca threat to Texas voters,\u201d and added, \u201cExactly.\u201d He then wrote<\/a>, \u201cDemocrats haven\u2019t turned Texas blue; Republican\u2019s [sic] might.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Cornyn spokesperson declined to expand on the senator\u2019s comment.<\/p>\n

Cornyn\u2019s remark puts him at odds with Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a>, who used his speech at this month\u2019s state GOP convention to back closed primaries for the first time, and the state party again listed it<\/a> among its top priorities for the next legislative session.<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s support is the latest sign of momentum for the push to bar Democrats and independents from voting in Republican nominating contests, an effort that had previously languished. Last October, Cornyn\u2019s then-primary opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a>, joined the Texas GOP\u2019s pending lawsuit<\/a> seeking to strike down open primaries in court. <\/p>\n

The suit, which argues the status quo violates the GOP\u2019s constitutional right to freedom of association by allowing crossover voters to boost moderates, was opposed<\/a> by Abbott-appointed Secretary of State Jane Nelson<\/a>. The former GOP state senator announced in early June<\/a> she would step down as Texas\u2019 top election official next month.<\/p>\n

Cornyn has bemoaned the scant voter participation in his May runoff loss to Paxton, suggesting it contributed<\/a> to the outcome. And yet, the turnout of just under 8% of registered voters statewide likely would have been even smaller with a closed primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Texas adopted party registration and the Republican Party adopted a closed primary, in which only registered Republicans could participate, that would lower turnout in the primary and likely make that turnout more highly partisan and ideological, perhaps making them less attractive in the general election,\u201d said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.<\/p>\n

As Cornyn prepares his exit from the Senate, having lost to Paxton in the May Republican primary runoff, his stance lands as the latest in a string of recent parting shots at his party\u2019s right flank. He has also feuded with Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, for example, arguing<\/a> Lee\u2019s uphill battle to overcome a filibuster and pass the GOP\u2019s priority voting restrictions bill amounts to \u201cfantasy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Disclosure: Southern Methodist University 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\u2019s journalism. Find a complete\u00a0list of them here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Sen. John Cornyn on Friday came out against top Texas Republicans\u2019 efforts to close the state\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[288,392,3309,1967,2280,27,29,28,2279,6588],"class_list":["post-352651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-elections","tag-greg-abbott","tag-john-cornyn","tag-ken-paxton","tag-republican-party-of-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news","tag-voting","tag-well-c-homepage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}