Here’s a look back at unseated Sen. Cornyn’s four-decade political career
Sen. John Cornyn’s multi-decade win streak has come to an end with the election of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. Here’s a look back at the 41-year political career of the longest tenured U.S. senator from Texas in modern memory.
Cornyn’s four-decade political career has labeled him as an Establishment Republican, but that same permanency was a point of contention for many Paxton supporters.
The Houston native was born into a military family who moved across the nation, and the globe, for his father’s career as an Air Force officer. He returned to Texas and attended two San Antonio schools for his undergraduate and juris doctorate: Trinity University and St. Mary’s University School of Law.
Between graduating from law school in 1977 and running for his first office, Cornyn served at a private law practice defending doctors in malpractice suits.
Texas’s 37th District Court
In 1984, Cornyn won his first election.
Cornyn ran for an open state district judge seat in Bexar County and served in the role from 1985 to 1991. He was succeeded by another San Antonio attorney, Judge Ann-Marie Aaron.
Texas Supreme Court
Cornyn ran for his second political position in 1990 and won an associate justice seat on the Texas Supreme Court. He served one full term and was reelected in 1996. Soon after winning the reelection campaign, Cornyn resigned to launch his campaign for Texas attorney general in 1997.
Deborah Hankinson succeeded him on the Texas Supreme Court.
Texas Attorney General
Cornyn won his November 1998 election for Texas attorney general by 10 percentage points and served in the seat for three years. He was the first Republican to win the seat since Reconstruction.
His bid for the Republican nomination for attorney general in March 1998 resulted in his first runoff election against Railroad Commissioner Barry Williamson. The race against Paxton is the only other runoff Cornyn has been in.
Now-Gov. Greg Abbott was Cornyn’s successor as attorney general, after the pair campaigned together for the attorney general and U.S. Senate races. Paxton won the seat after Abbott decided to run for governor.
U.S. Senate
In 2001, Cornyn ran for Sen. Phil Gramm’s seat and won by 12 percentage points. In 2008, 2014 and 2020, he won reelection campaigns by at least 10 percentage points each time. While in office, Cornyn has served as Republican Whip from 2013 to 2019 and been on a slew of committees.
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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 8:28 PM.