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By Steve Mollman
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Former Senator Joe Manchin on Thursday responded to Senator John Cornyn's comment a day earlier in which the Texas Republican flipped his stance by saying he now supports changing the filibuster rule to advance the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act.
Manchin wrote on X Thursday: “It’s deeply disappointing to see that Senator Cornyn is now willing to scrap the very rule he once praised and personally thanked me for defending.”
Why It Matters
Cornyn and other senators have long opposed abolishing the filibuster, a Senate rule that effectively requires 60 votes to end debate and move most legislation to a final vote. Democratic threats of filibuster, combined with GOP resistance to changing Senate rules, has so far blocked passage of the SAVE America Act, and President Donald Trump indicated on Sunday that he would refuse to sign any other bill until the act reaches his desk.
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What To Know
Cornyn is embroiled in an intense Senate Republican runoff race with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who said last week that he would consider dropping out if Senate leaders bypassed the filibuster to advance the SAVE America Act. It would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and mandate voter ID, with additional requirements for mail and absentee voting. It would also require states to use federal databases in verifying voter rolls.
Trump, who so far has endorsed neither Cornyn nor Paxton, wrote on Truth Social Sunday that the passage of the bill “must be done immediately” and “supersedes everything else.”
He told House Republicans on Monday that enacting the legislation would “guarantee the midterms,” adding, “If you don’t get it, big trouble.” The House cleared the act last month, but it has stalled in the Senate, with Democrats contending it would create new barriers to voting.
Cornyn, in a New York Post op-ed published Wednesday, said he would “support whatever changes to Senate rules that may prove necessary for us to get the SAVE America Act and homeland security funding past the Democrats’ obstruction, through the Senate, and on the president’s desk for his signature.”
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Manchin, who served West Virginia as a moderate Democrat before becoming an independent, defended the filibuster during the 2021-22 Congress—along with then Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema—when the Senate was split 50-50 and Democratic leaders pushed to change Senate rules so voting rights legislation could pass with a simple majority. He argued that preserving the 60‑vote threshold was essential to protect the Senate’s deliberative role.
When Newsweek reached out to Cornyn for comment, his staff shared comments he made to reporters in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday: “There's no Joe Manchins left in the Democratic Party and no Kyrsten Sinemas…this is an entirely different circumstance, dealing with Democrats who will not negotiate or consider anything that President Trump or Republicans want. We can either accept that or we can fight back, and I think we should fight back.”
But Manchin maintained his defense of the filibuster Thursday, describing it as the “soul on the Senate.”
He added: “The filibuster exists to make both sides work together and produce good legislation that can withstand the test of time. Eliminating the filibuster would consolidate even more power into the hands of the majority party’s leadership — and take power away from the minority and everyday Americans.”
During his time in the Senate, Manchin said, “there was not another person more committed to keeping the filibuster than Senator John Cornyn. He understood the incredible political pressure I faced from my former party to get rid of the filibuster and give Democrats complete power — and at the time, he understood why neither party should take our country past this point of no return.”
Manchin expressed his disappointment with the Texas senator. “It’s deeply disappointing to see that Senator Cornyn is now willing to scrap the very rule he once praised and personally thanked me for defending,” he wrote. “These extreme election-year politics that put party power over everything else are why Americans are sick and tired of the duopoly of the two-party system of Democrats and Republicans.”
What Happens Next
The GOP runoff election is set for May 26, with the winner taking on James Talarico, who last week won the Texas Democratic primary for U.S. Senate. Democrats argue the political environment could make the Lone Star State more competitive in November due to Trump’s declining approval rating. Talarico is starting his campaign in a stronger polling position than former Representative Beto O’Rourke in 2018, whose run was seen at the time as a high point for state Democrats.
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