ANTI-ENDORSEMENT: JOHN CORNYN

• Over his many years in Washington, John Cornyn has come to represent the worst of big money special interests. He has taken over $5.3 million from corporate PACs, and has used his fundraising prowess to aide his rise to power. This fundraising has taken Cornyn all around the country, but he still refuses to hold regular town halls with his constituents.
• Cornyn even defended the role of big money in politics, calling the DISCLOSE Act a way to assault freedom. The DISCLOSE Act is aimed at shining a light on the flood of dark money in elections. It would also address serious vulnerabilities in the system that currently allows foreign actors and big corporations to flood the airwaves and influence elections without any accountability.

• Cornyn has been a longtime, reliable friend to lobbyists, raising over $800,000 from the lobbying industry. He frequently fundraises with lobbyists at DC’s poshest spots, and had a reputation for being good to their clients.
• When Cornyn faced a tough reelection in 2014, it was lobbyists who raced to his rescue, bundling over $1 million for his campaign.

• As Republican Whip, it was Cornyn’s job to ensure that the Republican tax bill passed the Senate — the same bill that cut taxes for Cornyn’s big corporate donors while raising taxes on the middle class.
• Cornyn even slipped in a last-minute amendment that give a massive tax break to Big Oil and Gas, the kind that have given Cornyn over $3.3 million.

• Cornyn has been enjoying the DC high life on the dime of big corporate donors. His leadership PAC, funded by nearly $3 million from corporate PACs, has paid for his Virginia hunting license, private air travel, music festival tickets, and fancy ranches for the PAC’s annual dove hunt.
• Corporations have also paid for Cornyn’s expensive trips around the world, including a trip to the Caribbean paid for by a financier who would later be convicted of running a $7 billion Ponzi scheme.

• Cornyn has taken over $388,000 from the pharmaceutical industry and has done their bidding in Congress. He voted against allowing importation of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada, voted against letting Medicare negotiate drug prices, voted against advancing a bill that would stop big pharma companies from monopolizing the market, and supported a rule that would raise drug premiums for Medicare beneficiaries. He also voted for a health care bill that contained a $28 billion tax break for Big Pharma.
• Cornyn has taken over $3.7 million from the financial industry, and has consistently taken their side by voting to give big banks a $700 billion bailout, opposing Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform, and stripping consumers of their right to sue when banks deceive them.