Senator John Cornyn got absolutely crushed in a whopping, nearly twenty-point defeat to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was backed by President Donald Trump as the MAGA candidate in the primary fight over the Texas Senate seat that is up for re-election in this midterm cycle. Cornyn then delivered a very awkward concession speech in which he refused to say if he would now support MAGA and Paxton in the upcoming race against the Democrats.
As background, Cornyn likely lost the race because President Trump endorsed Paxton instead, saying that while Cornyn is a good guy, he was unjustifiably slow in backing the president’s policy initiatives and re-election campaign, and so can’t be trusted to really be a pro-MAGA senator. Many Republicans agree, pointing in particular to the SAVE America Act and Cornyn not getting in line behind it.
And so he lost by a massive margin of almost 20 points, with Texas AG Paxton raking in about 64 percent of the vote compared to his measly 36 percent, a nearly twenty-point defeat for the incumbent senator that is nearly as bad as that which Sen. Bill Cassidy suffered in his defeat in Louisiana, which also came after he betrayed Trump and Republicans repeatedly.
Beginning his awkward concession speech, Cornyn noted, “Tonight we come, we’ve come up short in this primary runoff.” Continuing, he said, echoing a trite comment many make when they lose, “A few years ago, I had a friend of mine say, ‘you know, what makes God laugh?’ He said, ‘when we make plans,'”
Continuing, Cornyn insisted that his record is one of consistent support for Republican policies and candidates, which is somewhat true in the abstract, but hides that he is hardly the bleeding edge of support for MAGA policies that make their way into the Senate, much less MAGA candidates.
He said, “I’ve spent most of my time in the Senate building the Republican party in Texas, and in the US Senate, and I’ve always supported the Republican ticket, and I intend to do so again in this general election. I’ve said throughout this race that I trust the voters of Texas, and they’ve made their decision, and I must respect it.”
Further, framing himself as a servant leader, he said, “Politics is hard on the families, especially, but I believe, and I know my family believes, that public service is an honorable calling. Serving others is a higher purpose, and while much about politics is ugly, we choose to serve to the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
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He added, “The party in the majority gets to govern. And my hope is to keep my party in power for generations. I am an optimist by nature, which is just another way of saying I am a Texan.” He then said, “I intend to continue my work to help make this nation a better place for all Texans and all of and all Americans.”
However, when a member of the listening crowd shouted and asked if he would not support Ken Paxton to help keep the Democrats out of office, the senator refused to answer, only saying that he would have “more to say” later, as a vague way of fending off all the questions directed his way. So, he refused to say that he would support the MAGA candidate the people of Texas chose, which likely means he won’t do so.
Watch him here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video