Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is finally done with that pesky Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX).
Cornyn handily won his party’s nomination, winning with 63 percent of the vote against Stockman with 17 percent of the vote when the race was called by the Associated Press. The race was called with 2 percent of precincts reporting.
Stockman’s defeat ends a tea party primary challenge that failed to gain much of any traction almost from the beginning. Stockman’s candidacy was premised on the idea that Cornyn, one of the most conservative members of the Senate, was actually secretly liberal. That argument didn’t have much substance though and Cornyn soon became the facto GOP nominee again.
Before polls closed on Tuesday Stockman sent out tweets suggesting that he knew he would lose badly.
Thank you to everyone who voted for me. With less than 90 days to run and under attack from false ads we weren’t able to run like we wanted.
— Rep. Steve Stockman (@StockmanSenate) March 5, 2014
Only about 2% of primary challenges succeed. With less than 90 days to run & outspent we fought hard. I am proud of those who stood with me.
— Rep. Steve Stockman (@StockmanSenate) March 5, 2014