Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn took some parting shots Thursday at fellow Republican Sen. Mike Lee (Utah) over SAVE America Act votes.
The latest round of infighting erupted Thursday night and continued into Friday morning, when Sen. John Cornyn responded to critics by calling conservative election-integrity activist Scott Presler a “grifter” in a post on X.
The remark drew attention because Presler had actively campaigned for Ken Paxton during the Texas Republican Senate primary, where Paxton defeated Cornyn last month.
Presler has built a large following among grassroots conservatives for his voter-registration and election-integrity efforts, making Cornyn’s criticism particularly notable within Republican circles.
Cornyn also urged Lee, in a separate post on X, to lay off publicly blaming fellow Republicans—such as Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota—for the failure of the GOP elections bill to gain sufficient support within the conference.
“Mike, I am a co-sponsor and have repeatedly voted for this, but you don’t have the votes,” Cornyn wrote in an early Friday morning post.
“Leader John Thune can’t change that. It is math,” he added.
“Try focusing on Democrats instead of Republicans. Republican on Republican attacks are hurting our chances to win the majority in November,” he said on X.
That led Lee to fire back at Cornyn in another X post.
“On what planet is this an attack on Republicans? We have majority support for the bill. In this rare circumstance, we should put it on the floor and keep debating it until it passes,” he wrote.
Lee delivered a speech on the Senate floor on Friday, arguing that Senate Republicans should bring the SAVE America Act to a vote in response to Cornyn’s accusation that the Utah Senator was “attacking Republicans.”
In a Thursday interview, Cornyn dismissed the idea that he is a “wounded bear” and warned that President Trump’s demand for “slavish adherence” could politically backfire, as reported by The New York Times.
Cornyn predicted that if Democrats take control of the House or Senate in the midterms, Trump would face “the most miserable two years of his life.”
He added, “I think it is going to be a pretty bumpy ride for the next seven months.”
Trump endorsed Paxton in the primary, but Thune chose to back Cornyn.
Speaking to reporters following Trump’s endorsement announcement, Thune praised Cornyn as “a principled conservative” and an “effective senator” for Texas, signaling a rare split between Senate Republican leadership and the president.
“Cornyn is a principled conservative. He is a very effective senator for the state of Texas,” Thune said.
“None of us can control what the president does. That doesn’t change the way I feel. I will continue to be supportive of Senator Cornyn in his re-election,” Thune added.
The comments came just hours after Trump formally endorsed Paxton on Truth Social, delivering a major boost to the Texas attorney general as he seeks to unseat Cornyn in the Republican runoff election.
In his endorsement, Trump criticized Cornyn for insufficient loyalty during politically difficult periods of his presidency.
“Ken Paxton has been a warrior for Texas values and for our America First agenda,” Trump wrote. He added that Cornyn “was not supportive of me when times were tough.”
The endorsement immediately intensified an already bitter and nationally significant Republican primary battle that has exposed growing tensions inside the GOP between establishment Senate Republicans and Trump-aligned populists.
Despite the internal divisions, Thune expressed confidence Republicans would retain control of the Senate in November.
“I’m very confident we’ll hang on — and maybe even expand the majority of the United States Senate,” Thune said.
Republicans currently hold a six-seat Senate majority. Democrats would need a net gain of four seats to retake control of the chamber.