In the early days of his 2020 re-election campaign, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R–Texas) has rolled out another high-profile endorsement, this time by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Though the Republican primary is nearly 450 days away, Patrick endorsed Cornyn in a written statement, calling him a “principled leader” and pledging to help him secure victory:
Senator John Cornyn and I have been working together for Texas for many years. I told him months ago that I would be proud to endorse his re-election in 2020 and today, I am making that endorsement official. John is a principled leader who has been a great U.S. Senator for Texas. He stands up for Texans everyday in Washington and fights against the left-wing forces that are determined to destroy our country and state. He is a strong ally of President Trump and has led the fight to confirm conservative judges to the federal bench and Supreme Court. He worked tirelessly following Hurricane Harvey and was successful in securing the resources Texas needed to rebuild. We need to re-elect John Cornyn to the U.S. Senate in 2020 and I will do all I can to help him secure that victory.
Patrick’s endorsement comes after Cornyn’s colleague U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) offered his own endorsement last week. Cruz narrowly won re-election in November.
The endorsement also puts to bed rumors that Patrick was planning his own run against Cornyn in 2020, an accusation his consultant and spokesman Allen Blakemore called “fake news.”