Free Republic

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said Thursday that his absence during last week’s confirmation of Attorney General Loretta Lynch was the same as voting against her. “There was no significance to the final vote, and I had a scheduling conflict,” Cruz said, according to media reports. “Under the Senate rules, absence is the equivalent of a no vote,” the 2016 GOP presidential candidate added. “It is identical procedurally.” Senators confirmed Lynch as the nation’s new attorney general on April 23 in a 56-43 vote. Cruz, a notable opponent of her nomination, said Thursday he abstained because a majority of Republicans had...

You probably haven't heard of Chris Mapp, a South Texas boat salesman and one of the six also-rans challenging John Cornyn in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, and here's hoping you never have occasion to hear of him again after March 4. If you do, chances are disconcertingly high that it will somehow involve a smoking rifle and a dead Mexican. That would at least be in line with what he told the center-right editorial board of The Dallas Morning News, the most influential newspaper in the state: South Texas businessman Chris Mapp, 53, told this editorial board that...

The financial future of Estacado High School students looks much brighter. Senator, John Cornyn, was on hand for the showcase of a financial literacy program. The curriculum uses video, animations, gaming and social networking to teach students money management principles. Cornyn said the program, Ever-Fi, teaches the basics of how to have a productive and functional life. "Learning these tools will prepare students to go to the college of their choice and to make sure they don't get in trouble by incurring debt that they can't repay," he said.

LUBBOCK, TX-- US Senator John Cornyn took a break from the capitol grind Thursday to meet with students at Lubbock ISD and to share his thoughts on the upcoming primary election. "It's good to be back home," said Cornyn The senator visited Estacado High School to showcase a new web-based program that helps students make wise financial decisions. "Part of this curriculum is even being taught at the elementary school level is pretty amaznig because these are things people need to learn you might call them life skills," Cornyn said. It's a program Cornyn said congress could even benefit from....

On the Thursday edition of The Chad Hasty Show, U.S. Senate candidate Ken Cope spoke with Chad Hasty about his campaign for Senate and why he decided to challenge incumbent Senator John Cornyn. Cope had some harsh criticism for Senator Cornyn, calling him a “seatwarmer” and arguing that he is not the big conservative fighter he claims to be. Cope added that many people are rightfully angry at Cornyn, and that the Senator had become disconnected from the people of Texas and has turned into another career politician. “[Cornyn] has done nothing on immigration. He’s done nothing about tax reform....

Each of the four Republican candidates for U.S. Senate for Texas who attended Monday night’s College Republican debate showed opposition to current Texas Sen. John Cornyn. “Our own Senator has violated his own constitutional oath,” candidate Reid Reasor said. “I just want students to read our Constitution. Look at what our Senator has done and look at what the Constitution says. If you read the Bill of Rights, you’ll see our own senator has messed up.” Four of the eight Republican candidates for U.S. Senate attended the debate hosted by the College Republicans in the University Center. Reasor, Dwayne Stovall,Chris...

Quantity is not necessarily quality. For example, take the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in Texas. There are eight candidates for the GOP spot (and five more on the Democratic side). Combined, that’s 13 candidates, but only one has the experience and track record that best reflects the state’s conservative values — and that is the incumbent, Sen. John Cornyn. Cornyn, the Senate Minority Whip first elected to the Senate in 2002, is the logical choice from a field of mostly nondescript (and some might say extreme) candidates. Cornyn has a history of support for the Second Amendment (primarily...

Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn’s bid for re-election got a boost this week from a GOP colleague and one of the top newspapers in his state. Mr. Cornyn, Texas Republican, will try to defend his seat against seven opponents in the party primary on March 4. He is taking heat from conservatives for supporting a procedural motion last week that cleared the way for an up-down vote to extend the nation’s borrowing authority, even though he voted against the actual measure. But Sen. Roger Wicker, Mississippi Republican, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that voters will still come out in droves for...

Dear John (Conyers…oops, my mistake. I mean Cornyn), I hate that I have to say this in a letter, rather than face to face, but it's over. As George Strait once sang, so long, farewell, Vaya con dios goodbye. It's not me. It's you. You lost me at the word cloture. No, now shush. You can't talk your way out of this one with your sweet talk about how you voted against the debt ceiling increase in the end. The fact remains is you got in bed with Harry Reid, stabbed Ted Cruz in the back and prevented his filibuster...

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Democrats are targeting as hypocrits Republicans who voted against stimulus funding and then sought money for their state’s or districts. A pair in the crosshairs are U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, both R-Texas. The Environmental Protection Agency received two letters from Sen. John Cornyn of Texas asking for consideration of grants for clean diesel projects in San Antonio and Houston. Mr. Cornyn is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. One of the letters was signed jointly with Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, also of Texas. The letter said...

The senior senator from Texas predicted little movement in Congress for the rest of the year on immigration reform, or much of anything, during a campaign stop in Longview Sunday. “I think this is going to be about mitigating the policies of the president,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn said, noting the GOP needs a net six-seat gain to win control of the Senate. “We’ll be in strategic position to mitigate some of the harm of some of those policies.” Cornyn brushed off a recent, milder push-back on Obamacare to “mend it, don’t end it.” “You can’t actually update the policies...

Just 22 months after Ted Cruz’s upset victory over Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Texas Republicans want to toss another high-profile establishment Republican into a runoff for a U.S. Senate seat against his conservative challenger. A new Gravis/Human Events poll shows incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) with only 43 percent support in the March 4 Texas Republican primary, forcing him into a May 27 runoff against U.S. Rep Steve Stockman (R-TX 36.) Stockman is in second place, grabbing 28 percent and quickly closing in on Cornyn. The remaining 29 percent were undecided. The poll was conducted before voters knew Cornyn...

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn on Monday marked the five-year anniversary of President Obama’s economic stimulus, but it was hardly a laudatory toast to the 2009 bid to restart America’s infrastructure and workforce. Mr. Cornyn, Texas Republican, said promises of “shovel-ready” jobs from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 were supposed to “get our economy moving.” “Five years later, our economy is still sluggish, Americans are dropping out of the workforce by the thousands, and the President’s latest big government experiment, Obamacare, is now on track to slash 2 million more jobs from the workforce,” he said.

Sen. John Cornyn is a principled lawmaker whose brand of Texas conservatism makes him the best choice in this eight-way GOP primary race for the Senate. Cornyn is the deputy GOP Senate leader and a senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Holding these positions of influence can only bode well for Texas. Cornyn, 62, also has long supported immigration reform, which we think is important, though at times in recent years he’s not been as much a problem solver on this issue as we’d like. Still, unlike his challengers, he’s committed to governing, having recently won additional funds for rape...

Human Events-Gravis Marketing, conducted a random survey of 729 likely republican primary voters in Texas regarding Republican Steve Stockman and Republican John Cornyn between 2/10/14 and 2/12/14. The poll carries a margin of error of 3.6%. The telephone poll was conducted using automated phone calls to landlines and live operators contacting cellphone only households. The Telephone poll centered on voters’ approval of Stockman and Cornyn and surveyed voters on candidate preference if the election were held today. John Cornyn, the Senate Minority Whip who has held his seat since 2002 has been cast by GOP challenger Congressman Steve Stockman as...

LONGVIEW — U.S. Sen. John Cornyn will be in Longview today to join local law enforcement, elected officials, and advocacy groups for a roundtable discussion on the rising problem of human trafficking in the region and joint efforts to crack down on traffickers and protect victims. According to a Cornyn press release, human trafficking has become a growing problem throughout East Texas as traffickers capitalize on major thoroughfares such as I-20 and SH 259.

Fox News host Greta Van Susteren on Friday blasted a bizarre television spot by longshot Texas Senate candidate Dwayne Stovall that likens Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to a Looney Tunes turtle. "This ad is lousy," Van Susteren said on her Fox website. "It is gratuitously insulting. "I have no idea whether Stovall is a great candidate or not — but his ad makes me think he is a jerk," she added. "You can be clever and funny in ads … or you can be gratuitously insulting." In the ad, Stovell, one of seven candidates vying to unseat Sen. John Cornyn...

Comprehensive immigration reform legislation passed a significant hurdle Tuesday when the Senate voted overwhelmingly to begin consideration of the lightning-rod bill. Thirty Republicans, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), voted to take up the measure in the 84-15 vote, revealing a deep well of potential support. -snip- The other GOP "yes" votes were McConnell and Sens. John Cornyn (Texas)

Some within the Tea Party are furious over the decision by Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to help shepherd the passage of the debt ceiling increase earlier this week. Both McConnell and Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Tx.) have come under fire -- with national conservative groups slamming McConnell and one of Cornyn's primary challengers, Rep. Steve Stockman, sending a colorful tweet criticizing the incumbent Thursday night. But, just when you thought you had seen it all comes this ad via Dwayne Stovall, who is also challenging Cornyn in the Texas primary.

One incumbent U.S. senator has decided to campaign a little differently before the Republican Party primary this year. He’s still shaking hands, making speeches and raising funds, of course, but he’ll also be grooving to the beat of hometown country crooner Neal McCoy at a rally and concert from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday at Maude Cobb Convention Center. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, “wanted a fun, affordable opportunity for a lot more people to participate in the election process,” said Longview physician John R. Coppedge, treasurer of the Texas Bipartisan Justice Committee, one group supporting Cornyn’s re-election campaign. Cornyn,...