U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) — who is vying for President Trump’s endorsement as he tries to hold his seat against Attorney General Ken Paxton in the heated GOP runoff election in Texas — 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 impetus for the change is the status of the SAVE Act, an election ID measure that Trump is pressuring Republicans — with their slim majority — to pass.
Cornyn’s move triggered a memory for Democrat-turned-Independent former U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, who revealed that Cornyn once personally begged Manchin to vote to preserve the filibuster when Democrats were in power.
Manchin told The Wall Street Journal (in the article titled ‘Trump Gains Prominent Ally in Killing Senate Filibuster’): “He said, ‘Joe…you get rid of this filibuster and I guarantee you it’ll ruin the Senate. It’ll ruin the way we do business here.”
As a former staffer to a Republican who switched parties in an ill-fated attempt to secure reelection, I’ll just say it’s sad to watch how lightly politicians toss aside principled commitments to win reelection. https://t.co/waMMAIbWfP
— Gregg Nunziata (@greggnunziata) March 12, 2026
Conservative former Chief Nominations Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee, policy counsel to the Senate Republican Policy Committee, and prosecutor in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Gregg Nunziata, responded to Manchin’s story.
On social media, Nunziata wrote: “As a former staffer to a Republican who switched parties in an ill-fated attempt to secure reelection, I’ll just say it’s sad to watch how lightly politicians toss aside principled commitments to win reelection.”
Nunziata is referring to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) who in April 2009 switched to the Democratic Party in an opportunistic attempt to help Democrats move toward a 60-vote, filibuster-proof majority. Specter’s party switch followed his support for President Obama’s stimulus package and aimed to avoid a tough primary challenge, but he ultimately lost the 2010 Democratic primary.
Nunziata may deride Specter as unprincipled, but Specter expressed a reason for his switch that numerous Republicans — especially never-Trumpers — have since repeated, saying “The Republican party has moved farther and farther to the right. I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy.”