Fort Towson

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.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Gene Kelly, U.S. Air Force veteran and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2000
Ray McMurrey, teacher at Mary Carroll High School
Rick Noriega, State Representative
Rhett Smith, U.S. Navy veteran and auditor at the Texas Department of Human Services

Results

Democratic primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rick Noriega	1,110,579	51.01%
	Democratic	Gene Kelly	584,966	26.87%
	Democratic	Ray McMurrey	269,402	12.37%
	Democratic	Rhett Smith	213,305	9.75%
Total votes			2,178,252	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

John Cornyn, incumbent U.S. Senator
Larry Kilgore, conservative/Secessionist activist

Results

Republican Primary^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Cornyn (incumbent)	997,216	81.48%	+4.17%
	Republican	Larry Kilgore	226,649	18.52%	+0.00%

General election

Candidates

John Cornyn (R), incumbent U.S. Senator
Rick Noriega (D), State Representative
Yvonne Adams Schick (L), real estate entrepreneur^[3]

Campaign

Cornyn, running as an incumbent, had a 42% approval rating with a 43% disapproval rating in June 2007.^[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.

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report^[5]	Safe R	October 23, 2008
CQ Politics^[6]	Likely R	October 31, 2008
Rothenberg Political Report^[7]	Safe R	November 2, 2008
Real Clear Politics^[8]	Safe R	November 4, 2008

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Rick Noriega (D)	John Cornyn (R)
Rasmussen	September 18, 2007	30%	53%
Research 2000	September 24–26, 2007	35%	51%
Rasmussen Reports	May 1, 2008	43%	47%
Research 2000/Daily Kos	May 5–7, 2008	44%	48%
Baselice & Associates	May 20–25, 2008	33%	49%
Rasmussen Reports	June 2, 2008	35%	52%
Rasmussen Reports	June 25, 2008	35%	48%
Rasmussen Reports	July 30, 2008	39%	50%
Rasmussen Reports	September 29, 2008	43%	50%
Rasmussen Reports	October 21, 2008	40%	55%

Results

2008 Texas U.S. Senate general election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Cornyn (incumbent)	4,337,469	54.82%	−0.48%
	Democratic	Rick Noriega	3,389,365	42.84%	−0.50%
	Libertarian	Yvonne Adams Schick	185,241	2.34%	+1.55%
Majority			948,104	11.98%
Turnout			7,912,075	58.28%
	Republican hold		Swing

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Bexar (largest municipality: San Antonio)
Harris (largest municipality: Houston)
Brewster (largest city: Alpine)
Uvalde (largest city: Uvalde)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Bee (Largest city: Beeville)
Caldwell (Largest city: Lockhart)
Fisher (Largest city: Rotan)
Foard (Largest city: Crowell)
Haskell (Largest city: Haskell)
Marion (Largest city: Jefferson)
Pecos (Largest city: Fort Stockton)
Refugio (Largest city: Refugio)
San Augustine (Largest city: San Augustine)
San Patricio (Largest city: Portland)
Terrell (Largest city: Sanderson)
Morris (Largest city: Daingerfield)
Newton (Largest city: Newton)
Calhoun (Largest city: Port Lavaca)
Robertson (Largest city: Hearne)

References

^ "Our Campaigns - TX US Senate - D Primary Race - Mar 04, 2008". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
^ "Our Campaigns - TX US Senate - R Primary Race - Mar 04, 2008". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
^ "NewsBank". Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
^ "SurveyUSA News Poll #12245". www.surveyusa.com. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
^ "2008 Senate Race ratings for October 23, 2008". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
^ Race Ratings Chart: Senate Archived October 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine CQ Politics
^ "2008 Senate ratings". Inside Elections. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
^ "2008 RCP Averages & Senate Results". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved August 31, 2021.

External links

Elections Division from the Texas Secretary of State
U.S. Congress candidates for Texas at Project Vote Smart
Texas, U.S. Senate from CQ Politics
Texas U.S. Senate from OurCampaigns.com
Texas Senate race from 2008 Race Tracker
Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets
Cornyn (R-i) vs Noriega (D) graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
Official campaign websites (Archived)
- John Cornyn, Republican candidate
- Rick Noriega, Democratic candidate
- Yvonne Schick, Libertarian candidate

[1] "Our Campaigns - TX US Senate - D Primary Race - Mar 04, 2008". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved December 19, 2022.

[2] "Our Campaigns - TX US Senate - R Primary Race - Mar 04, 2008". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved December 19, 2022.

[3] "NewsBank". Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved May 17, 2011.

[4] "SurveyUSA News Poll #12245". www.surveyusa.com. Retrieved December 19, 2022.

[Cook_PR-5] "2008 Senate Race ratings for October 23, 2008". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved April 1, 2021.

[6] Race Ratings Chart: Senate Archived October 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine CQ Politics

[Inside_Elections-7] "2008 Senate ratings". Inside Elections. Retrieved April 1, 2021.

[8] "2008 RCP Averages & Senate Results". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved August 31, 2021.

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Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Predictions

Polling

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

See also

References

External links