page_title: John Cornyn
section_title: Elections
hierarchical_section_title: John Cornyn / United States Senate / Elections
caption_attribution_description: English: John Cornyn speaking at CPAC 2014 in Washington, DC.
context_page_description: John Cornyn III is an American politician and attorney serving as the senior United States Senator for Texas since 2002. He was the Republican Senate Majority Whip for the 114th and 115th Congresses. Cornyn also previously served as Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 2007 to 2011.
  Born in Houston, Cornyn is a graduate of Trinity University and St. Mary's University School of Law, and received an LL.M. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. He was a judge on Texas' 37th District Court from 1985 to 1991. He was elected an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court, where he served from 1991 to 1997. In 1998, Cornyn was elected Attorney General of Texas, serving one term until winning a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2002. He was reelected to a second term in 2008 and to a third term in 2014. He is running for a fourth term in 2020.
context_section_description: 2002
  In the 2002 Republican primary, Cornyn faced five opponents. Cornyn defeated his closest Republican challenger, self-financed Dallas-based international physician Bruce Rusty Lang, in the election by a ten-to-one margin. In the general election, Cornyn defeated Democratic nominee Ron Kirk in a campaign that cost each candidate over $9 million.
  2008
  Texas has not elected a Democrat in a statewide election since 1994, and according to Rasmussen Reports polling, in October 2008 Cornyn had an approval rating of 50%. Christian activist Larry Kilgore of Mansfield challenged Cornyn in the Republican primary, but Cornyn easily defeated him. Texas Representative Rick Noriega won the March 4 Democratic primary against Gene Kelly, Ray McMurrey, and Rhett Smith. Yvonne Adams Schick was the Libertarian Party's nominee, and the Green Party of Texas sought ballot access for its candidate, David B. Collins. The same Rasmussen poll showed Cornyn leading Noriega 47% to 43%, suggesting that the race might prove unexpectedly competitive, but most polls showed a much wider margin, and Cornyn was reelected.
  2014
  Cornyn was reelected in 2014, and according to the Dallas Morning News, "never broke a sweat." He won the March Republican primary with 59% of the vote against Houston-area congressman Steve Stockman. In the general election, he raised $14 million, outspending Democratic nominee David Alameel by nearly 3-1.
caption: John Cornyn speaking at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland.
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