U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) attends the committee vote on U.S. President Donald Trump's nomination of Todd Blanche to be U.S. attorney general, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 4, 2026. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has changed his mind on the Senate filibuster — once again.
Earlier this year, the longtime senator broke from his past commitment to protecting the controvrsial Senate rule, saying he would support changing the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, President Donald Trump's package of voting restrictions. He did this hoping to assuage angry MAGA followers who were flocking to his rival, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, and perhaps get Trump's endorsement — neither of which happened.
Now, with Cornyn denied re-nomination and on his way out of Congress, he told the conservative National Review he once again opposes alteration to the filibuster rules.
“I said I was open to changes in the filibuster, but I was intentionally not very specific,” said Cornyn. “I’m happy to have that conversation, but I’m not prepared to vote to overturn the filibuster at this time.”
Trump, for his part, has repeatedly demanded that Republicans scrap the filibuster to make passing his agenda easier.
A critical mass of Republicans have stood firm against this, because historically, the filibuster obstructs far more pieces of the Democratic Party's agenda than the Republican Party's.
Paxton defeated Cornyn in large part by pressing him on the SAVE America Act, and even went so far as to say he would drop out of the race if the legislation passed before the primary happened — a subtle way of pinning the blame for its failure on Cornyn, who was already serving in the Senate.