Sen. Rand Paul may have fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell’s support for his likely 2016 presidential bid. But Sen. Ted Cruz won’t have his senior senator from Texas, John Cornyn, behind him.
Cornyn, the Senate majority whip, said in an interview Monday that he would stay neutral in the Republican primary, declining to endorse Cruz just hours after he became the first candidate to officially declare his presidential run.
“You know, we’ve got a lot of Texans who are running for president, so I’m going to watch from the sidelines,” Cornyn said when asked if he would back Cruz. (Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry is considering a run as well.)
Cornyn denied his position was retribution for Cruz’s refusal to back him during his Senate primary last year.
Cornyn’s position does not come as much of a surprise. The tea party freshman refused to back Cornyn during the senator’s crowded primary race last year, unlike in Kentucky where Paul aggressively campaigned for McConnell last year and backed him during his primary bid. But Cruz insisted he would stay neutral in Cornyn’s primary race, which he easily won.
While I am sure that Cruz and Cornyn probably aren’t on Snapchat with each other late at night, the tenor of this post is probably a bit much.
If Rick Perry decides to run, which seems likely, it would make more sense for Cornyn to back him, even if they all got along famously. Politico kicks this piece off with a false equivalency: McConnell hasn’t supported Rand Paul’s candidacy because Rand Paul is not yet a candidate. That may seem like quibbling, but it is true.
The media needs to create REPUBLICAN CIVIL WAR stories where there aren’t any.
But Valerie Jarrett’s machinations about Hillary’s emails are a non-story.
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