In the aftermath of the unfortunate election two weeks ago, we forgot to extend congratulations to one of our very favorite Senators, John Cornyn. Sen. Cornyn won re-election in Texas with 55 percent of the vote. His opponent Rick Noriega, a member of the State House of Representatives, received 43 percent.
Exit polls show that Cornyn won 36 percent of the Hispanic vote, to Noriega’s 61 percent. Considering that Noriega is Hispanic, and that he hammered Sen. Cornyn for opposing “comprehensive” immigration reform legislation in 2007, Cornyn’s showing isn’t bad at all. It lags well behind President Bush’s nationwide number in 2004, but it’s nearly the same as Ronald Reagan’s in 1984, which I think was the previous high-water mark. And it’s considerably better than the 2-1 ratio by which Hispanics favored Barack Obama over John McCain this year. Cornyn and McCain had a memorable exchange about immigration reform legislation during a closed session in May 2007.
So maybe there’s some hope that a conservative Republicans can avoid being wiped out when it comes to the Hispanic vote. But this will remain a challenge.
To comment on this post, go here.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.