The Republican Party in a North Texas county has called for the resignation of Sen. John Cornyn, a senior member of the Texas upper house of Congress.
In a resolution authored by Scott Hommel, the Lamar County Republican Party chairman sought to explain the party’s decision and list the alleged grievances against the sitting senator.
The resolution demanded “the resignation of U.S. Senator John Cornyn III for his recent votes and actions which violate the core principles of the RPT (Republican Party of Texas).”
Chairman Hommel continued in the resolution to suggest that Cornyn “egregiously ignored the Republican Party platform by voting for the $1.7 trillion Omnibus Bill.”
Furthermore, the county organization pointed to instances where Cornyn voted to confirm people nominated by President Joe Biden and opposed most Republican senators.
These votes included the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, several district judges, and a member of the Federal Election Commission.
Lamar County Republican Party claimed that such votes by Cornyn “violate the RPT’s third core principle, namely, preserving American and Texas sovereignty and freedom.”
Turning to Cornyn’s support of proposed anti-gun legislation, Hommel declared such actions “violated the RPT’s first core principle, which reaffirms our fidelity to the founding documents.”
Those documents grant “our God-given right to self-defense, codified in the Second Amendment, which prohibits the exact infringements which Senator Cornyn voted for,” Hommel reminded.
“We, the Republican Party of Lamar County,” the resolution concluded, “are stridently opposed to Senator Cornyn’s continued defamation of Republican principles, and we hereby demand his immediate resignation from the U.S. Senate for his faithlessness to our party and our principles.”
Lamar County’s Republican Party forwarded the resolution to Texas Republican Chairman Matt Rinaldi and asked the State Republican Executive Committee to “concur in this resolution of resignation and impose on Senator John Cornyn III to resign his office effective immediately.”
When asked for comment upon the resolution, Rinaldi declined.
However, his communications director, James Wesolek, explained that because the County chose to pass a resolution demanding resignation instead of calling for censure, there is no formal procedure that the state party organization is required to follow.
Cornyn was booed during a speech at the Texas Republican Convention in June of last year after working with Democrats in the Senate to pass alleged anti-gun legislation that included “red flag” provisions, as reported by The Dallas Express.
The senator defended his legislation saying, “the goal is to keep guns out of the hands of people with criminal backgrounds and people with mental health problems, which is the current law.”
He went on to suggest, “We’ve found a way to come up with good policies, enforcing the current law and respecting the right, the fundamental right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.”
Cornyn also explained his vote for the omnibus funding package, claiming, “For months, I have spoken out about this dysfunctional process which has left Congress with two bad choices after completely disregarding the regular appropriations process … This is not what responsible governing looks like.”
“However,” the senior senator continued, “the consequences of a government shutdown directly impact our national and economic security at a time when our country cannot afford that type of disruption. This legislation supports the important missions of our military, border security, and national defense as well as the brave men and women behind them.”
Despite the calls to resign, Cornyn’s approval numbers among the party have remained relatively high, with 68% of Republicans approving of Cornyn’s job performance, according to a poll conducted by the Morning Consult.
The Dallas Express reached out to Sen. Cornyn for comment about the calls to resign but did not receive a response.