By Lindsay Wise and Elizabeth Findell
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, in need of President Trump's endorsement ahead of a tough primary runoff, reversed himself on Wednesday and said he would support changes to the longstanding Senate filibuster rule that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation.
The move, while boosting Cornyn's MAGA bona fides, also raises the pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.), who has been beating back calls to bypass the rule.
Trump and many of his allies -- influencers, activists, conservative media personalities and some lawmakers -- have been pressuring Thune to find a way to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and a photo ID to vote. To do so, they need to get around Democrats' blockade in the chamber, which the GOP controls 53-47.
"After careful consideration, I support whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary" to move the SAVE America Act as well as a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security to Trump's desk, Cornyn wrote in an opinion article published in the New York Post.
Cornyn said he would support either a revival of the "talking filibuster" or "a different reform" and urged his Senate GOP colleagues who still support the 60-vote threshold "to reassess the new reality and update their thinking." He cited Democrats' past attempts to weaken the filibuster and predicted they would kill it when they return to power.
"We can either unilaterally disarm, or we can stand and fight," he said.
A version of the SAVE America Act passed the House in February, but Senate Democrats have made it clear they will block the measure. They say fraudulent voting by noncitizens is minimal and the law could prevent or deter millions of legitimate voters from casting ballots.
"We're talking about American citizens who are going to be kicked off the rolls. Lots of them," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), who cast the bill as an effort by Trump to cheat in the election.
Thune has repeatedly said he supports the bill, but he doesn't have the votes in the Senate required to sidestep the 60-vote threshold or succeed in forcing a talking filibuster, which could tie up the chamber for weeks or even months.
"For better or worse, I'm the one that has to be the clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here," Thune said. He pledged to bring the SAVE America Act to the Senate floor for a vote, to put Democrats on the record obstructing it. Thune said he understands Trump's passion to pass the measure, but he has conveyed the fact that there are insufficient votes to the president and will continue to make that argument.
"That's just a function of math, and there isn't anything I can do about that," Thune said.
Trump has said that passing the SAVE America Act, along with a ban on most mail-in ballots, is critical to GOP success in the midterms. As the president left the White House Wednesday, reporters asked about Thune's assertion that there aren't the votes to pass the SAVE America Act right now.
"Well, he's got to be a leader," Trump said. "If he's a leader, he's got to get 'em."
The Senate has 53 Republicans, and it would take 51 votes to change the rule. At least four GOP senators have publicly said they oppose such a move: Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Moreover, if either party tried to carve out exceptions to the filibuster for favored legislation, the rule likely would effectively end for all legislation.
Cornyn, a former member of Senate Republican leadership who has served more than two decades in the Senate, had previously been a staunch defender of the filibuster. As recently as October, Cornyn told The Wall Street Journal that eliminating the filibuster was an "absolute nonstarter" because it would "destroy the Senate."
Pressed on Wednesday by an NBC News reporter about other past statements he had made in support of the filibuster, and whether he had changed his position to win Trump's endorsement, Cornyn put his hand in front of the camera. "I think we're through, go away," he said.
Cornyn had been trailing in polls leading up to the Republican primary in Texas earlier this month. He put up an unexpectedly strong showing when he narrowly bested Texas Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, earning 42% of votes to Paxton's 41%. Because neither reached a majority, they must compete in a May runoff.
After the result, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would endorse a candidate -- and expected the other to drop out of the race -- while people close to the campaigns said they expected him to endorse Cornyn.
Paxton said in a TV interview shortly after Trump's post that he wouldn't drop out of the race. On social media, he began slamming Cornyn for not supporting abolishing the 60-vote threshold.
"John Cornyn is a coward," he wrote on X earlier this week. "He is SILENT about abolishing the filibuster and actually fighting to pass the Save America Act."
Write to Lindsay Wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com and Elizabeth Findell at elizabeth.findell@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 11, 2026 14:53 ET (18:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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