Cornyn wins over Texas GOP leadership after being censured and booed for his gun safety bill

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WASHINGTON — In 2022, Abraham George was coming after John Cornyn.

Texas’ senior senator had just played a central role in passing the first gun safety bill in a generation — a move that the party’s right wing denounced as capitulating to Democrats. Members of the state party viciously booed him during their summer meeting that year. George, then leading the Collin County Republican Party in a censure motion against Cornyn, said the senator had crossed over with the Democrats too much and needed to be ousted from office.

"The censure calls for his immediate resignation, and also calls for the state party to take actions on it," George said of Cornyn at the time, echoing a sentiment across the right wing within the party that George represented.

When George was elected to lead the state party last year on a hard-right platform, he had the support of some of the most vocal Cornyn nay-sayers in the state, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

But as chair of the Republican Party of Texas and an influential spokesperson for the ultra-conservative faction of the party loyal to Donald Trump and skeptical of any wavering, George is not joining the anti-Cornyn chorus. Quite the opposite.

“Ever since I was elected, Senator Cornyn has been an ally to the party,” George said in a statement for this story, in which he praised the senator for showing up before the State Republican Executive Committee. Cornyn “promised to support President Trump's agenda and confirm his nominees. He has followed through on that promise. We will continue to work with all Republicans to advance a conservative agenda for our state and nation.”

The pair met in Cornyn’s Capitol Hill office last September to discuss election strategy — a meeting where George lauded Cornyn for “all your efforts in what is such a pivotal election in our nation’s history.” Cornyn hosted the Republican Party’s December Christmas party, where in a stark contrast to the boos of the 2022 state party meeting, he got a standing ovation. They met again when Cornyn invited George to be his guest to President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress and discussed ways to get the federal government to reimburse Texas for its border security efforts.

That could neutralize a potential threat as Cornyn faces a challenging primary terrain. The right wing of the party has continued to blast him for his role in the gun safety bill, his doubts about Trump’s electability in last year’s elections and his support for the Ukrainian effort in its war against Russia. Paxton is openly considering a run against Cornyn, and George continues to organize and collaborate with the attorney general, including a statewide tour campaigning for state Rep. David Cook to be House speaker.

Officially, the party is staying neutral in the primary. But its leadership has previously weighed in and gone after Republicans they did not perceive as sufficiently conservative. The party censured U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales in 2022 and then-state House Speaker Dade Phelan in 2024. Gonzales was censured for his votes for the same gun safety bill that sparked the backlash against Cornyn, and Phelan was censured for the impeachment of Attorney General Paxton and the appointment of Democratic committee chairs.

Even before the censure against Phelan, the state party launched radio ads blasting him for continuing the tradition of allowing Democrats to serve as committee chairs. The move prompted criticism against then-party Chair Matt Rinaldi from other Republicans who did not think it productive to go after one of their own. Rinaldi did not seek reelection for the position during the state party convention last year.

George has also expressed a willingness to call out members of his party in the past. He said at a news conference last November that there would be a “bloody” Republican primary in 2026 if state House members continue to support Democratic committee chairs in the lower chamber.

If they support a speaker who appoints Democrats to committee chairs, “it’s time for them to go,” George said at the time. “We will definitely try our best to work with them, but we have primaries coming in a few months after this, after the session, and I can promise you, if I’m the chair, the party will be involved in those.”

Cornyn and George both declined requests for interviews. They both declined to comment when asked about how their relationship has evolved from the 2022 censure motion to now.

Rinaldi said George appeared to be taking the position he had taken as party chair — support Cornyn as part of the party’s team, even if there are some policy disagreements along the way.

“Our goal in the Republican Party of Texas is to have a team that's striving to enact conservative policy, and Sen. Cornyn, as our senior senator right now, is a member of that team,” Rinaldi said. “We had a relationship when I was chair, and Abraham George is continuing that relationship. There will be agreements and disagreements over policy but we have an open channel of communication.”

Rinaldi didn’t say whom he would support in next year’s Senate primary, saying when he sees who will run, he will support “the most conservative candidate that I think will serve Texas and the country best.” He has cast doubt that Cornyn would win in a primary, writing on social media last November that “Cornyn needs to go.”

Cornyn leads a formidable organizing and fundraising operation that benefits Texas Republicans down ballot. During the 2020 cycle when Cornyn was at the top of the ticket, he and the Republican Party of Texas worked together to send 40 million letters, texts and other messages to voters and register almost 320,000 new Republican voters. Voter contacts that year were important for the party as it was the first election after the state removed straight-ticket voting. He also raised $3.8 million for the Republican Party of Texas that year.

“Democrats should be running scared with my friend Abraham George at the helm of the Republican Party of Texas,” Cornyn said in a statement for this story. “I’ve worked hand-in-glove with RPT every time I’ve been on the ballot, and raised money for RPT when I’m not on the ballot, to provide record-setting support for conservatives and turn out millions of Republican voters across Texas, and I’m looking forward to reprising our successful partnership this cycle.”

There is still tension with Cornyn in some corners of the state party that feel his brand of conservatism is at odds with the MAGA movement. Many Republicans in Texas can’t shake off his 2023 prediction that Trump’s “time has passed him by” and that Trump potentially would not be able to win in the 2024 general election (Cornyn later endorsed Trump after the New Hampshire primary). Kelly Perry, a member of the SREC, said Cornyn “could do better at times and that leaves many of us questioning his intent when he votes on occasion.”

“He is a great politician but there seems to be times where he gets lost and loses sight of who puts him in office,” Perry said. “I’d like to know that the Republicans’ best interest is his first priority. We are all very clear where we stand, it’s just we question at times where he stands. “

Perry said that SREC members gave Cornyn a standing ovation at last year’s Christmas party only because he vowed to support Trump’s nomination of Pete Hegseth to be Defense Secretary. Perry stressed she was giving her personal opinion and not speaking on behalf of the SREC or the Republican Party of Texas.

Cornyn has been heavily emphasizing his support for Trump since the election. He vowed to support all of Trump’s nominations this year. In his official campaign launch video, Cornyn leaned into his time as Republican whip, securing the votes for Trump’s legislative agenda. He supported all of Trump’s judicial and executive nominees during Trump’s first term and voted with the president over 92% of the time.

Paxton is the most vocal advocate for a primary challenge against Cornyn from the right and said an announcement on his own run could come in the next few months.

“I think it’s just time,” Paxton told Punchbowl of a Cornyn challenge. “He’s had his chance. He hasn’t performed well, and the voters know it. You can go a long time without people paying attention. And they’re paying attention now.”

Other potential candidates include U.S. Reps. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, and Wesley Hunt, R-Houston, who have both made moves to increase their name-ID outside of their home districts. Neither has announced plans to run.

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