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Senator John Cornyn Gets Out The Vote In Red Texas

Heather Claborn
/
KACU
Texas Statehouse Rep. Stan Lambert introduces U.S. Senator John Cornyn

U.S. Senator John Cornyn is on the second day of a get out the vote tour of Texas.  He started his day in Abilene, before heading to Wichita Falls, Tyler, Waco and ending his day in Austin.

Senator Cornyn focused his comments at Abilene’s Cypress Street Station on what could happen if they don’t go vote.  He painted a map of Texas turning more purple and eventually blue. Cornyn said that’s especially concerning with the census on the horizon, which he says may bring three more congressional seats to Texas and the redrawing of district lines around the state.   And he pointed to the 2018 election as a warning, noting that rural voters were key for Republican wins,  "Last time I was on the ballot there were 4.7 million voters.  In November of 2020, we're expecting more than 11 million voters."  He told the small crowd.  "When Senator Cruz ran against Robert Francis O'Rourke, there were 8.3 million, and Senator Cruz won by 200,000 votes."

Cornyn said the results of the 2018 election surprised him and indicated to the state’s Republicans that something was wrong.  

“If it weren’t for the two to one advantage that Republicans got in some of the more rural areas of the state, Senator Cruz would not have been elected.” Cornyn told reporters after his comments to local voters.  “And possibly Governor Abbott would not have won his election.  So it’s really important for everybody to turn out but especially folks in this part of the country.”

Cornyn expressed confidence that he will win his primary, and said he thinks the state’s Democrats feel emboldened by the challenge Beto O’Rourke gave Senator Cruz in 2018, which he says is why he’ll keep his nose to the grindstone.  

Heather Claborn joined KACU as news director in January 2018. She oversees daily newscast and feature reporting and works with KACU’s news anchors to develop newscasts. She also conducts two-way interviews, reports for newscast and feature stories and maintains the station’s social media and website content. In 2020, Claborn helped staff develop the daily newsletter that is delivered by email.
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