The 2020 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member to the United States Senate to represent the State of Texas, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn won re-election to a fourth term against Democratic nominee MJ Hegar by 9.6%.
Prior to the election, most news organizations projected this race as "Lean Republican", and was not expected to be as competitive as the contest for Texas's other Senate seat two years prior, when Republican incumbent Ted Cruz defeated Democrat Beto O'Rourke by a 2.6% margin. Nonetheless, John Cornyn won in what was his worst performance out of his four elections for the U.S. Senate, while MJ Hegar's 43.9% marked the highest vote share of any of Cornyn's Democratic challengers. Despite this being Cornyn's worst performance percentage-wise, he more than doubled his 2014 vote count and received what was then the most raw votes for a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in the history of the United States; this record was later surpassed by Steve Garvey in California in 2024.
Cornyn outperformed President Donald Trump in the state by about 4%, and was able to carry two counties won by Joe Biden (Tarrant and Williamson). While Cornyn did better than Trump in the Texas Triangle, contributing to his over performance, Hegar slightly outperformed Biden in the heavily Hispanic Rio Grande Valley, and was able to carry one Trump county (Zapata), though Hegar herself vastly underperformed previous Democratic margins in the region.
Republican primary
Candidates
Nominee
- John Cornyn, incumbent U.S. senator
Eliminated in the primary
- Virgil Bierschwale, U.S. Navy veteran, software developer, realtor
- John Anthony Castro, tax consultant, author, businessman, entrepreneur
- Dwayne Stovall, bridge construction contractor, businessman
- Mark Yancey, businessman, Attacca International Executive, former owner of the Dallas Wings basketball team
Declined
- Pat Fallon, state senator
- Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas (endorsed John Cornyn)
- Allen West, former U.S. representative for Florida's 22nd congressional district (running for state party chair)
Endorsements
Polling
Results
Democratic primary
Candidates
Nominee
- MJ Hegar, retired United States Air Force Major, businesswoman, author, teacher, and Democratic Party nominee for Texas's 31st congressional district in 2018
Eliminated in the runoff
- Royce West, state senator, former President Pro Tempore of the Texas Senate, attorney
Eliminated in the primary
- Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, labor organizer and author
- Annie "Mamá" Garcia, attorney, small-business owner, and non-profit founder
- Amanda Edwards, Houston City Councillor
- Chris Bell, former U.S. representative for Texas's 25th congressional district, nominee for Governor of Texas in 2006 and candidate for Mayor of Houston in 2015
- Sema Hernandez, organizer for the Poor People's Campaign and candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2018
- Michael Cooper, pastor and candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 2018
- Victor Hugo Harris, U.S. Army Reserve Colonel
- Adrian Ocegueda, financial analyst and candidate for Governor of Texas in 2018
- Jack Daniel Foster Jr., educator
- D. R. Hunter, retiree
Withdrawn
- John B. Love III, Midland City Councillor
- Hunter Darrel Reece
- David Selig
Declined
- Joaquín Castro, incumbent U.S. representative for Texas's 20th congressional district
- Julián Castro, former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, former mayor of San Antonio and former 2020 presidential candidate
- Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. representative for Texas's 16th congressional district, nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2018 and former 2020 presidential candidate
Endorsements
First round
Debates
Polling
Results
Runoff
Polling
Debates
Results
Other candidates
Libertarian Party
Candidates
Nominee
- Kerry McKennon, Libertarian nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Texas in 2018
Withdrawn
- Wes Benedict, former national executive director of the Libertarian Party
- Rhett Rosenquest Smith, Libertarian nominee for the Precinct 2 Bexar County Justice of the Peace in 2020 and Libertarian nominee for Texas's 11th congressional district in 2018
Green Party
Nominee
- David B. Collins, info tech trainer and Green nominee for U.S. Senate in 2012
People Over Politics Party
Withdrawn
- Cedric Jefferson
Human Rights Party
Withdrawn
- James Brumley
Independents
Declared
- Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla, retired teacher and candidate for Austin city council in 2014 (as a write-in candidate)
Withdrawn
- Tim Smith
- Arjun Srinivasan
- Krisjiannis Vittato, teacher and ex-filmmaker
General election
Debate
Predictions
Post-primary endorsements
Polling
Graphical summary
Aggregate polls
Results
By county
By congressional district
Cornyn won 24 out of 36 congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat.
See also
- 2020 Texas elections
Notes
Partisan clients
Additional candidates and voter samples
References
Further reading
- Nick Corasaniti; Stephanie Saul; Patricia Mazzei (September 13, 2020), "Big Voting Decisions in Florida, Wisconsin, Texas: What They Mean for November", New York Times, archived from the original on September 13, 2020,
Both parties are waging legal battles around the country over who gets to vote and how
- Amber Phillips (October 9, 2020), "The Senate seats most likely to flip parties in November", Washingtonpost.com
External links
- Elections Division at the Texas Secretary of State official website
- Texas at Ballotpedia
- Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, "Texas", Voting & Elections Toolkits
- "Texas: Election Tools, Deadlines, Dates, Rules, and Links", Vote.org, Oakland, CA
- University of Texas Libraries, "Voting and Elections", Research Guides
- "League of Women Voters of Texas". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
- National Institute on Money in Politics; Campaign Finance Institute, "Texas 2019 & 2020 Elections", OpenSecrets
Official campaign websites
- John Cornyn (R) for Senate
- MJ Hegar (D) for Senate
- Kerry McKennon (L) for Senate Archived October 16, 2019, at the Wayback Machine
- Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla (I) for Senate Archived August 16, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
