Cornyn Lost to Paxton — Now He’s Fighting to Let Democrats Pick Republican Nominees

The Republican Party of Texas and Attorney General Ken Paxton — the man who beat Cornyn — have sued to require closed primaries, arguing that open primaries allow the opposing party to corrupt the GOP’s own nomination process. The new Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden has said the issue should be solved through the legislature rather than litigation, but has not taken a position on whether primaries should be open or closed.

Cornyn isn’t staying neutral on the substance. He’s actively defending the status quo that allows Democrats to dilute Republican primary results — which is the same status quo that Texas grassroots conservatives spent $100 million in Paxton’s campaign trying to change.

Since losing his primary, Cornyn’s positions have shifted with remarkable consistency against the Trump agenda: he opposed the SAVE America Act, stalled Todd Blanche’s confirmation until the DOJ killed the weaponization fund, dropped an effort to rename a highway after Trump, and now advocates against closed primaries.

There is a pattern here. A man who wanted to be Senate Majority Leader and instead became a lame duck is spending his final months in office settling scores and protecting the political infrastructure that benefits the type of candidate he represented — moderate, establishment, accountable to donors rather than voters.

Texas voters made their decision in the primary. Cornyn is still bitter with them – and Trump – about it. From the exit, no less.