John Cornyn or MJ Hegar? Here’s the Star-Telegram’s Texas Senate race recommendation
For most of his long career, Sen. John Cornyn has faced little-known opponents in snooze-worthy campaigns.
No longer. Cornyn is in the fight of his political life against Democrat MJ Hegar, and the nation is watching.
Both candidates would benefit Texas in different ways, but we recommend voters send Cornyn back to Washington for a fourth term. His pragmatic conservatism, history of delivering for the state and ability to help broker compromises on the biggest issues needing attention give the Republican the edge. (Also on the ballot are Libertarian Kerry Douglas McKennon and Green Party nominee David B. Collins.)
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHey, who is behind these endorsements?
Members of the Editorial Board, which serves as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s institutional voice, decide candidates and positions to recommend to voters. The members of the board are: Cynthia M. Allen, columnist; Steve Coffman, editor and president; Bud Kennedy, columnist; Ryan J. Rusak, opinion editor; and Nicole Russell, opinion writer.
Members of our Community Advisory Board may also participate in candidate interviews and offer their views, but they do not vote on which candidate to recommend.
Read more by clicking the arrow in the upper right.
How does the process work?
The Editorial Board interviews candidates, asking about positions on issues, experience and qualifications, and how they would approach holding the office for which they are running. Board members do additional research on candidates’ backgrounds and the issues at hand. After that, members discuss the candidates and generally aim to arrive at a consensus, though not necessarily unanimity. All members contribute observations and ideas, so the resulting editorials represent the board’s view, not a particular writer.
How do partisanship and ideology factor in?
We’re not tied to one party or the other, and our positions on issues range across the ideological spectrum. We tend to prefer candidates who align with our previously stated positions, but qualifications, temperament and experience are important, too.
The senator’s answer to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram Editorial Board’s question about his relationship with President Donald Trump sparked national news and significant Democratic outrage when he said that it was “maybe like a lot of women who get married and think they’re going to change their spouse, and that doesn’t usually work out very well.”
But it illustrated something important about how Cornyn operates: He’s not a bomb thrower, and he knows how to adjust to the needs of the moment to be effective.
There’s an old line, attributed to writer Michael Kinsley, that a Washington gaffe occurs when a politician inadvertently reveals a truth no one really wants to talk about. That’s what Cornyn did when he told us he had privately disagreed with the president on defense spending, trade and the deficit.
In the four tumultuous years of the Trump presidency, many have been desperate for a “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” moment. They want every Republican to run to the nearest microphone and denounce the president’s every move and utterance.
But Cornyn, 68, is right when he says that’s not the way to get the job done. The better play for Republicans has been to try to steer an impulsive and politically inexperienced president toward more practical solutions. And like it or not, that means not crossing him in public.
Cornyn’s mistake was to be inconsistent in private from his votes on matters such as shifting defense dollars to the border wall. Every lawmaker at some point has to play good soldier within his or her party. But Cornyn’s credibility has suffered from this duplicity.
The incident, though, demonstrates Cornyn’s ability to adapt to be effective. While that sometimes infuriates hard-core partisans on both sides, it’s a trait that has served him well. Cornyn started as a Bush-style Republican and tried to lead the party to a sustainable center-right majority when he was in charge of Senate GOP campaign efforts. The tea party movement and our ongoing polarization ended that, and he’s been more of a conservative warrior since.
That’s part of why this race is close, along with Texas’ continuing drift toward purple-state status and the energy of anti-Trump voters. But to her credit, Hegar is the main reason. She’s run an aggressive, smart campaign that capitalizes on the rising Democratic tide without positioning herself too far to the left.
Hegar, 44, of Round Rock is a straight talker with a compelling message. She’s ready, she argues, to fight for better health care access and more economic fairness for everyday Texans.
And there’s a good argument that in what may be a Democratic-controlled Washington, it would be better for Texas to have a Democrat in the Senate.
Hegar’s experience as an Air Force helicopter pilot would give her the expertise to both watchdog and defend the aircraft programs that are huge economic drivers for Tarrant County.
The story of how, with enemy rounds in her arm and leg, she returned fire on Taliban fighters in Afghanistan while guiding her damaged helicopter to a safe landing, is compelling. She saved the lives of injured troops, earning the Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross with Valor. Also worth note is her later willingness to sacrifice her military career to fight for women to be able to serve in combat.
Our concern is that Hegar’s freewheeling style would wear thin and reduce her ability to be effective in the Senate. A little disruption to a staid system is a good thing; too much contributes to dysfunction.
In our interview with her, Hegar explicitly made the case that it’s time to fire Cornyn and that after 18 years, he’s drifted away from working for Texans and instead serves corporate interests. We see it differently: Cornyn has a chance in a fourth term to use his expertise to help break logjams on immigration, health care and the long-term budgetary crisis.
His legacy depends on it.