John Cornyn

WASHINGTON – John Cornyn went from the Texas Supreme Court to attorney general and then the U.S. Senate, where he has been influencing federal policy at the highest levels for more than two decades.

Voters have elected him four times to the seat. Cornyn now is asking them for a fifth term but faces a tough challenge in Tuesday’s Republican runoff from Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Cornyn, 74, was elected in 1984 as a state district judge in Bexar County. He later won a seat on the Texas Supreme Court, where one of his best-known opinions upheld the “Robin Hood” school finance law that spread resources more evenly between property-rich and poor school districts.

Cornyn left the bench to run for attorney general in 1998. Critics attacked him over the Robin Hood ruling, but Cornyn defended it as judicial restraint rather than support for the law itself. He won and served four years as the state’s top lawyer.

After Sen. Phil Gramm retired, Cornyn won the open Senate seat, beating Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk in 2002, and became a reliable ally of President George W. Bush. He climbed Republican leadership ranks, serving as Senate GOP whip and a close adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell. He sought to succeed McConnell as the GOP leader in 2024, highlighting his fundraising and legislative chops. He lost the race to Sen. John Thune of South Dakota.

Viewed as an establishment conservative, Cornyn survived major shifts inside the Republican Party, from the Tea Party movement to Donald Trump’s rise. He often stressed electability and broad coalitions over confrontation, positions that later riled parts of the GOP base.

Cornyn angered many grassroots conservatives for helping pass a gun safety bill after the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. Texas GOP convention delegates loudly booed him over the measure. Cornyn defended its narrow focus on mental health, school security and keeping guns from dangerous people, saying it would save lives without weakening gun rights.