News for North Texas
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ted Cruz Endorses John Cornyn For Re-Election

Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, left, and John Cornyn
Jamelle Bouie / Marjorie Kamys Cotera
Republican U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, left, and John Cornyn

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz formally endorsed U.S. Sen. John Cornyn Friday morning, as the state's senior senator gears up for his 2020 re-election campaign.

The pair appeared together in a video announcement, with Cruz thanking Texans for re-electing him in November.

"Today, I'm here to encourage you to do the same for my friend, Sen. John Cornyn, who worked very hard to support my re-election," Cruz said, adding that he and Cornyn make "a very strong team here in Washington."

The move will likely do much to shore up support for Cornyn, should any Republican primary rivals emerge.

"I'm proud to have Ted's support, but we still have a lot of work to do," Cornyn said. "Ted and I fight shoulder to shoulder to make the country more like Texas. That's why it was critical he came out on top after Democrats put a target on his back and why I campaigned for him across our state."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OowsegsFMPw&feature=youtu.be

Cornyn is seeking his fourth term in the Senate.

Cornyn and Cruz have not always endorsed each other. Cruz declined to back Cornyn in 2014 when he faced a primary challenge from then-U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman. Cruz said then that he was not getting involved in primaries involving his fellow senators.

Two years later, Cornyn similarly took a pass on endorsing Cruz for another term. At the time, Cruz was facing the possibility of a serious primary opponent amid the fallout from his decision not to endorse Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention.

In September 2017, though, Cornyn reversed himself and gave his support to Cruz. During a joint interview at the Texas Tribune Festival, Cornyn said it was important for the state's senators to present a unified front in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which had just hit the Texas coast.

Cornyn pitched in as Cruz confronted an increasingly serious challenge from U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso. Cornyn hosted an October fundraiser for Cruz in Washington, D.C., and joined Cruz for a number of stops on a statewide bus tour in the race's closing days.

The Texas Tribune provided this story.

Abby Livingston joined the Tribune in 2014 as the publication's first Washington Bureau Chief. Previously, she covered political campaigns, House leadership and Congress for Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper. A seventh-generation Texan, Abby graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. She grew up in Fort Worth and has appeared in an episode of "The Bold and The Beautiful." Abby pitched and produced political segments for CNN and worked as an editor for The Hotline, National Journal’s campaign tipsheet. Abby began her journalism career as a desk assistant at NBC News in Washington, working her way up to the political unit, where she researched stories for Nightly News, the Today Show and Meet the Press. In keeping with the Trib’s great history of hiring softball stars, Abby is a three-time MVP (the most in game history —Ed.) for The Bad News Babes, the women’s press softball team that takes on female members of Congress in the annual Congressional Women’s Softball breast cancer charity game.
Patrick Svitek is a reporter for the Texas Tribune. He previously worked for the Houston Chronicle's Austin bureau. He graduated in 2014 from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He originally is from Fort Wayne, Indiana.