WASHINGTON — Some Texas tea partiers are prodding Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, to challenge Sen. John Cornyn next year.
Gohmert ruled out a run last month, telling the Washington Examiner that “it’s not on my radar” to run against Cornyn, a well-funded incumbent who serves as deputy Senate GOP leader.
But that hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm for a Gohmert bid among some tea partiers. JoAnn Fleming, executive director of Tyler–based Grassroots America We The People, told National Review Online that problems with Cornyn have existed for a while.
“This didn’t just start with the Mike Lee letter, this has been going on for quite some time,” she said. “I’ve had people ask me to ask him.”
Some tea partiers are disappointed that Cornyn withdrew support from Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s demand to shut down the government if the Affordable Care Act receives funding in next month’s budget showdown. Sen. Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, has been beating the drum for that tactic.
Fleming also cited a lack of town hall meetings by Cornyn. On August 17, some tea partiers will represent him with a cardboard cut-out at a mock town hall in Dallas, NRO reported.
Democratic operatives eagerly flagged the story as a sign of internal GOP strife, playfully labeled “GOP TEA PARTY PRIMARY-PALOOZA.”
Cornyn has opposed the Affordable Care Act from the outset. And he is eager to cut funding and eventually repeal it. But he views the Lee-Cruz approach as flawed.
“Even if you were to shut down the government … that mandatory spending will continue,” he told KSEV’s Edd Hendee. “You can’t shut off Obamacare by stopping discretionary spending, which Congress appropriates.”
