John Cornyn Republican John Cornyn Republican The 2008 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 4, 2008.

Incumbent Republican John Cornyn defeated Democratic nominee Rick Noriega, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, to win re-election to a second term in office.

[4] Texas is a red state, that Republican presidential nominee John McCain won with over 55% of the vote.

Cornyn slightly underperformed McCain.

However, Noriega underperformed both 2008 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in Texas and Cornyn's 2002 opponent, Ron Kirk, with Noriega receiving just 42.8% of the vote.