Cornyn is the senior senator from Texas and is a Republican. He has served since Nov 30, 2002. Cornyn is next up for reelection in 2026 and serves until Jan 3, 2027. He is 71 years old.
![Photo of Sen. John Cornyn [R-TX]](/static/legislator-photos/300027-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Cornyn.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Cornyn is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Cornyn has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 21, 2023. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
John Cornyn sits on the following committees:
Enacted Legislation
Cornyn was the primary sponsor of 89 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 3946 (117th): Abolish Trafficking Reauthorization Act of 2022
- S. 4926 (117th): Respect for Child Survivors Act
- S. 3846 (117th): Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Reauthorization Act of 2022
- S. 4003 (117th): Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022
- S. 4834 (117th): PROTECT Our Children Act of 2022
- S. 3825 (117th): A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3903 Melear Drive in Arlington, Texas, as the “Ron Wright Post Office Building”.
- S. 5323 (117th): A bill amend title VI of the Social Security Act to allow States and local governments to use coronavirus relief funds provided under the American Rescue Plan …
Does 89 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Cornyn sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Crime and Law Enforcement (23%) Armed Forces and National Security (18%) Government Operations and Politics (15%) International Affairs (14%) Health (8%) Science, Technology, Communications (8%) Transportation and Public Works (7%) Taxation (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Cornyn recently introduced the following legislation:
- S. 894: A bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to collect …
- S. 794: A bill to require a pilot program on the participation of non-asset-based third-party …
- S. 647: Hydrogen for Ports Act of 2023
- S. 649: Hydrogen Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act
- S. 499: Debbie Smith Act of 2023
- S. 434: PAID OFF Act of 2023
- S. 227: Improving Access to Our Courts Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2003 to Mar 2023, Cornyn missed 160 of 6,643 roll call votes, which is 2.4%. This is on par with the median of 2.3% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
