John Cornyn John Cornyn Office: Junior Senator, Texas Political party: Republican Term of office: December 2002-Present Preceded by: W. Philip Gramm Succeeded by: Incumbent (2009) Born: February 2, 1952 Houston, Texas Spouse: Sandy Cornyn John Cornyn III (born February 2, 1952) is the junior United States Senator from Texas. He was elected to his first term in 2002. He is a Republican. His Democratic Party opponent was former Dallas, Texas, mayor Ron Kirk. He is married to Sandy Cornyn, with whom he has two daughters, Danley and Haley. He attends University Avenue Church of Christ in Austin. He graduated from Trinity University in 1973, where he majored in journalism and was a member of the local fraternity Chi Delta Tau.
Cornyn later earned his J.D. from St. Mary's University School of Law in 1977, as well as an LL.M. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1995 .
After serving six years as a District Court Judge in San Antonio, Texas, he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1990 and re-elected in 1996. Cornyn resigned from the Texas Supreme Court in 1997 to run for the office of attorney general of Texas. When elected, he became the first Republican to win the position since Reconstruction. He left that post for his successful Senate run.
In 2005 Cornyn's name was floated among possibilities to replace Supreme Court justices Sandra Day O'Connor or William Rehnquist.
