John Cornyn is fighting like a man on a mission to get another term representing Texans in the U.S. Senate.
Unable to get what he wanted done in four terms — or 24 years — the 74-year-old now wants to remain a member of the Senate until he is 80 and probably beyond.
The question Texans should ask is simple. Who does that serve better: Cornyn or Texans?
There is, of course, an argument to be made that Cornyn can run as many times as he wants and serve as many years as he wants.
After all, voters keep electing him. That is the nature of the system we have.
But Tuesday’s primary in Texas revealed something that should make Republicans and voters across the country angry.
Cornyn and his allies reportedly spent about $80 million just so he could limp into a runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
That kind of money could have been deployed in a battleground state where control of the Senate is actually in question.
Instead, it was spent keeping one man’s political career alive, and even a reported 33-to-1 spending advantage could not deliver Cornyn a clean victory.
Now Republicans get to endure months of mudslinging ahead of the general election, while Democrats and radical state Rep. James Talarico — who thinks God is “nonbinary” — wait comfortably on the sidelines to try poaching the seat.
To be clear, none of this is an endorsement of Paxton. He is a proven conservative, but he is far from a perfect candidate.
But in any case, politicians are not royalty, and they are not supposed to outlive the furniture at the Capitol.
They are employees sent to Washington to cast votes in the interest of the people who sent them there.
They should be seen as expendable and only as good as their votes.
Their betrayals should never be forgotten, and their successes can be honored once they retire, when they finally do.
This race is supposed to be about keeping a radical out of the Senate.
Talarico is a heretic and a creep who weaponizes Scripture to push abortion and sex changes, and he should be the focus of Republican energy at the moment.
He should be defeated so badly in November that he never runs for office anywhere ever again.
But instead of preparing to beat him like a drum, Republicans are now locked in an expensive family fight that never needed to happen.
If you ask me, the blame rests squarely with Cornyn, who is not popular despite his decades in the Senate.
This is not even an attack on his age. There is a lot young people can learn from their elders.
Living to 80 is an accomplishment that surely comes with at least some wisdom.
But wisdom should also tell a man when his time has passed.
John Cornyn should spend his 80th birthday in February 2032 surrounded by his family. Instead, he wants to spend it wandering the halls of Congress and clinging to power.
It is wrong when Nancy Pelosi hangs around too long. It is wrong when Mitch McConnell and Chuck Grassley do it, too.
And it is wrong when John Cornyn does it.
Once you reach a certain age, or once you have had your time in the sun, you need to go away.
Cornyn has had a successful career and a successful life. Yet something in him apparently cannot let go.
There is not a part of his brain telling him to play some golf, go fishing, collect rocks, or pick up a paintbrush.
Tuesday’s primary was an argument for term limits, and that argument lost and will continue to lose as long as our leaders can enrich themselves at the expense of the country.
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