Senator John Cornyn

John Cornyn III is the senior United States senator from Texas, serving since December 2002. A Republican and longtime institutional player in the Senate, Cornyn has held multiple leadership roles, including chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (2009–2013) and Senate Republican Whip (2013–2019).

Cornyn’s career is rooted in the law. He earned a B.A. from Trinity University, a J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law, and an LL.M. from the University of Virginia. Before reaching the Senate, he served as a state district judge (Texas’s 37th Judicial District), an associate justice on the Texas Supreme Court, and the 49th Attorney General of Texas (1999–2002).

In Washington, Cornyn is widely viewed as a conservative legalist with strong ties to business and the GOP’s pro-security wing. He has been deeply involved in judicial confirmations and has worked on bipartisan deals at key moments, including serving as the lead Republican negotiator on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. After the 2020 presidential election, he declined to join efforts to challenge the certification of the results, which fueled criticism from some conservative activists.

Cornyn is running for a fifth Senate term in 2026 and faces a high-profile Republican primary environment, including challengers such as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Representative Wesley Hunt.

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