SCHERTZ, TX – Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is fighting for his political life after cutting a bipartisan gun-control deal. But if the 74-year-old survives a bruising GOP primary and wins reelection, he’s signaling he won’t abandon deal-making — this time turning to immigration reform with President Donald Trump.
Cornyn said the moment could be perfect for Trump to lead on the issue since the border is secure and the administration was deporting illegal immigrants with serious criminal records.
“I do believe that President Trump is capable of, once the border is secure, which it is now, and once we’ve removed people who never should have been here in the first place, to have a conversation about what we want our immigration system to look like,” Cornyn told the Washington Examiner at a rally Monday.
“We don’t want to ever displace American workers, that’s for sure. But the fact is, virtually all of us, sometime or another in our family history, came from somewhere else, and to me, that’s one of our great assets, is our legal immigration system,” the Texas Republican continued. “So we’ll have that conversation with the President when the time is right.”
Cornyn made a similar comment in an interview with Politico earlier in the week, saying the desire to see immigration reform pass into law was one of the reasons he ran for reelection. His GOP opponents argue that Cornyn’s immigration reform is little more than amnesty for illegal immigrants who broke the law when they entered the United States.
“John Cornyn has been in Washington for 24 years,” Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner. “If he was going to fix immigration, he would’ve done it by now. Instead, his first big immigration effort in the Senate was what? Amnesty for illegal immigrants.”
Another opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, said Cornyn’s emphasis on immigration reform was further proof that “he must be fired” in Tuesday’s GOP primary.
“John Cornyn is running again because he wants to push amnesty,” Paxton wrote on X. “After over forty years in office, he wants to spend another decade doing what he’s always done: helping illegals.”
One attendee of the rally told the Washington Examiner that Cornyn’s answer on immigration “really resonated” with him.
“I’m of Mexican descent,” said 44-year-old Jeremiah Arevalo. “Basically, the way I see immigration is not to have open borders. No country, most countries in the world don’t have open borders, but you have to simplify the process. What we have right now is so difficult for somebody who legally, or honestly, wants to become a citizen — they have to go through so many hurdles.”
The flare-up underscores the tenuous relationship that Cornyn has with the GOP base and why he’s facing a primary challenge from two other Republican candidates. Throughout much of the campaign, Corny has fought allegations that he’s an establishment Republican.
Cornyn, who was first elected in 2002, has fought hard against allegations that he is an establishment Republican more comfortable in the George W. Bush era than in Trump’s. Much of the criticism has centered on Cornyn’s decision to work with Democrats after the Uvalde Shooting in 2022 to pass gun-control legislation. The bill expanded background checks for gun purchasers under the age of 21 and also provided federal money for state red flag laws. It also led to Cornyn being censured by the local Texas Republican Party.
The gun-control effort has become campaign fodder for both Paxton and Hunt, each of whom is jockeying to be in the top two on primary day. In Texas, if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, the top two contenders advance to a runoff.
Cornyn, for his part, has not shied away from the criticism and has even punched back at his opponents. The senator has mocked Hunt’s missed votes in Washington while campaigning. He’s also gone after Paxton for ethical issues, and an alleged affair the attorney general engaged in that helped lead to his unsuccessful impeachment by the Texas legislature.
“We’ve got three of us in the primary now, and you ain’t seen nothing yet, I’ll be able to give the Attorney General my full and undivided attention, and he’ll be receiving that,” Cornyn said at a Monday rally outside of San Antonio. “I think it means it’s a wake-up call to Republicans to see the Democrats showing up in greater numbers to vote.”
TRUMP’S SNUB OF CRENSHAW MAY NOT SWAY TEXAS VOTERS AWAY FROM INCUMBENT
In a striking departure from Senate tradition, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) did not endorse his home-state colleague, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), as he faces a fierce challenge. In 2020, Cruz endorsed Cornyn as he mounted a largely uncontentious primary run, while Cornyn offered a delayed endorsement for Cruz’s 2018 race and supported him in 2024.
“I’m staying out of the race,” Cruz told the Washington Examiner last year when the primary began heating up. “Both John and Ken are friends of mine. I’ve worked closely with both of them. I respect them both, and I will trust the decision to the voters of Texas.”