Cornyn of Texas bids to lead GOP in Senate after Mcconnell exits
WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. John Cornyn has informed his colleagues that he intends to run for Senate Republican leader, becoming the first senator to announce a campaign since Sen. Mitch Mcconnell said he will step down from the post in November.
Cornyn, who served as Mcconnell’s No. 2 in leadership before he was term-limited out of the job five years ago, is citing his experience in that role. But he also is trying to distinguish himself from Mcconnell, saying: “I believe the Senate is broken — that is not news to anyone.”
“From experience, I have learned what works in the Senate and what does not. And I am confident Senate Republicans can restore our institution to the essential role it serves in our constitutional republic.”
There has long been speculation that Cornyn, John Thune of South Dakota and John Barrasso of Wyoming would vie to replace Mcconnell if and when he were to step down. But the Kentuckian’s surprise announcement Wednesday that he won’t run again for Republican leader after the November elections has jump-started the campaign: GOP senators are expected to gather in nine months to choose a new leader behind closed doors.
Cornyn, a former Texas attorney general who was first elected to the Senate in 2002, is a prominent member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a popular member of the GOP conference who is seen as a steady hand. He has managed to bridge some of the caucus’ deep divides in recent years while occasionally negotiating with Democrats, as he did on bipartisan gun legislation in 2022.
Republican senators haven’t chosen a new leader since 2007, when Mcconnell was elected.
Huge Texas wildfire: A dusting of snow covered a desolate landscape of scorched prairie, dead cattle and burned out homes Thursday in the Texas Panhandle, giving firefighters brief relief in their desperate efforts to corral a blaze that has grown into the largest in state history.
The Smokehouse Creek fire grew to nearly 1,700 square miles. It merged with another fire and is just 3% contained, the Texas A&M Forest Service reported.
Gray skies loomed over huge scars of blackened earth in a rural area dotted with scrub brush, ranchland, rocky canyons and oil rigs. In Stinnett, a town of about 1,600, someone propped up a U.S. flag outside a destroyed home.
The Smokehouse Creek fire’s explosive growth slowed Thursday as snow fell and winds and temperatures dipped. It is the largest of several major fires burning in the rural Panhandle section of the state and has crossed into Oklahoma.
Authorities have not said what ignited the fires, but strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably high temperatures fed the blazes.
US election threats: The United States expects to face fast-moving threats to its elections this year as artificial intelligence and other technological advances have made interference and meddling easier than before, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Thursday.
“The U.S. has confronted foreign malign influence threats in the past,” he told a national security conference. “But this election cycle, the U.S. will face more adversaries, moving at a faster pace, and enabled by new technology.”
Wray singled out advances in generative AI, which he said had made it “easier for both more- and less-sophisticated foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence.”
The remarks underscored escalating U.S. government concerns over sometimes hard-to-detect influence operations that are designed to shape public opinion. Officials have not cited successful efforts by foreign governments to directly alter results, but they have sounded the alarms over the past decade about foreign influence campaigns.
“As intelligence professionals, we’ve got to highlight threats in specific, evidence-based ways so that we’re usefully arming our partners and, in particular, the public against the kinds of foreign influence operations they’re likely to confront,” Wray said.
Canada re-ups visa rules:
Canada’s government is reimposing the visa requirements on Mexican nationals visiting Canada, the immigration minister announced Thursday.
Quebec’s premier has been urging the Canadian government to slow the influx of immigrants, which he says has been straining resources. The U.S. government also urged Canada to take action as some Mexicans have been crossing illegally into the U.S. from Canada.
The new rules take effect late Thursday. Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Mexico accounted for 17% of all asylum claims received by Canada from around the world, and most claims from Mexico are either rejected, withdrawn or abandoned, so a change was needed.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government lifted the visa requirement for Mexican visitors in late 2016. Immigration Department data show asylum claims from Mexico have spiked dramatically, from 110 in 2015 to nearly 24,000 last year.
Ex-rep wants Senate seat:
Former U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, who left the GOP in 2019 after calling for the impeachment of then-president Donald Trump, announced a bid Thursday for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat.
Amash represented Grand Rapids from 2011 to 2021. Former U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers and Peter Meijer have also announced Republican campaigns, as has businessman Sandy Pensler, for the seat being vacated by Democrat Debbie Stabenow.
“I’m convinced that no candidate would be better positioned to win both the Republican primary and the general election,” Amash said on X, formerly Twitter. “That’s why, today, I’m making it official: I’m joining the race for United States Senate in Michigan.”