Cornyn Says GOP ‘Forgot How to Win,’ Blames Unforced Errors for Midterm Rout
Outgoing Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) tore into his own party Wednesday, blaming “unforced political errors,” divisive rhetoric and Republican-on-Republican warfare for a midterm rout that handed Democrats both chambers of Congress, the Washington Examiner reported.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “Republicans Forgot How to Win Elections,” Cornyn wrote that Tuesday’s “beat-down wasn’t only foreseeable, it was foreseen,” because Republicans forgot “four basic rules of coalition politics,” The Hill reported.
“I am sorry that because of unforced political errors, my party, this administration and our country will miss an opportunity to make progress that was within reach,” Cornyn wrote.
The critique lands with personal force. Cornyn lost his May primary runoff to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton. On Tuesday, Paxton then lost the general election to Democrat James Talarico, 55.1% to 43% — the first Democratic Senate win in Texas in roughly four decades, according to AP.
Cornyn’s first rule: coalitions add, they don’t subtract. He credited the 2024 Trump coalition — white working-class voters, Hispanic men and the largest Black share for Republicans since the 1970s — then said midterm nominees blew it up. “This year, losing candidates like Ken Paxton and Mike Collins shrank the tent, obsessing over ‘RINOs’ and political theater,” he wrote, in the full text of the op-ed. He also named Texas statewide candidate Bo French for “blatant bigotry against Indian-Americans.”
Rule two was simpler: be likeable. Cornyn contrasted today’s “fringe challengers” and “performative politics” with earlier contests such as Marco Rubio’s, which he said turned on “real policy differences.” A “strange reverse personality test,” he argued, now treats scandals as authenticity and affability as a sellout — “a losing mindset that Republicans must outgrow” because “it selects for nominees who can’t win general elections,” The Hill noted.
Third, deliver what you promised. Cornyn dinged both parties for squandering mandates: Joe Biden for open borders, inflationary spending and “unrestrained wokeism,” and Trump’s second term for misreading 2024. Voters wanted trade retooling and secure borders, he wrote, but got “arbitrary ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs,” “hyperaggressive immigration enforcement,” an Iran conflict sold without public persuasion, and “sideshows” in Washington. “Americans elected the Donald Trump who put on the apron of the Golden Arches and got a plan for a Triumphal Arch instead,” Cornyn wrote.
Fourth, character still matters. “When Republicans force voters to choose between policy and personal character, it is unfair to them and suicidal for us,” he wrote, pointing to Texas voters asked to “swallow an almost comical list of personal scandals and improprieties.”
“Party leaders have to stop excusing the inexcusable and police our side of the aisle — or voters will continue to police it for us,” Cornyn wrote, the Examiner highlighted.
He closed on an invitation, not a eulogy: a “big-tent Republican Party, competent, focused on Americans’ daily concerns, with room for traditional conservatives and MAGA supporters alike” as the path back in 2028. “Anyone who is willing to turn the page, restore integrity and rebuild our party can count me in.” Whether Republican leaders treat that as a roadmap or a farewell shot will shape the next two years.
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