Incumbent John Cornyn (R), M.J. Hegar (D), Kerry McKennon (L), and Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla (I) ran in the November 3, 2020 general election for U.S. Senate in Texas.

In the Republican primary, Cornyn defeated four other candidates, receiving 76% of the vote. In the Democratic primary, no candidate received the 50% of the vote necessary to win the nomination outright. Hegar and Royce West advanced to a Democratic primary runoff in which Hegar defeated West 52% to 48%. McKennon was selected as the Libertarian nominee at a convention on August 3, 2020.^[1] Turullols-Bonilla ran as a write-in candidate.

Cornyn was first elected in 2002. In 2014, he was re-elected with 61.6% of the vote.

As of July 2020, major independent observers rated the general election as likely Republican or lean Republican.

The outcome of this race affected partisan control of the U.S. Senate. Thirty-five of 100 seats were up for election, including two special elections. At the time of the election, Republicans had a 53-45 majority over Democrats in the Senate. Independents who caucus with the Democrats held the two remaining seats. Republicans faced greater partisan risk in the election. They defended 23 seats while Democrats defended 12. Both parties had two incumbents representing states the opposite party's presidential nominee won in 2016.

Click here for coverage of the July 14 Democratic primary runoff.

For more information about the Democratic primary, click here.
For more information about the Republican primary, click here.

This election was a battleground race. Other 2020 battlegrounds included:

Election updates

September 25, 2020: A University of Massachusetts Lowell and YouGov poll found Cornyn with 50% support to Hegar's 40%, and 9% of respondents were undecided. The margin of error was +/- 4.3 percentage points.^[2]

September 22, 2020: A Data for Progress poll sponsored by the Defend Students Action Fund found Cornyn with 40% support to Hegar's 38%, and 22% of respondents were undecided. The margin of error was +/- 3.6 percentage points.^[3]

Sept. 18, 2020: A YouGov poll sponsored by CBS News found Cornyn apparently leading Hegar. Cornyn had 46% support to Hegar's 41%, with 13% of voters undecided or backing a different candidate. The poll reported a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.^[4]

Coronavirus and the 2020 election

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Texas modified its absentee/mail-in voting, candidate filing, and early voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

Absentee/mail-in voting: Local election officials could not reject an absentee ballot due to a perceived signature mismatch unless the voter was given a pre-rejection notice of this finding and a "meaningful opportunity to cure his or her ballot's rejection." Return locations for absentee/mail-in ballots were limited to one per county.
Candidate filing procedures: The petition deadline for independent candidates for non-presidential office was extended to August 13, 2020.
Early voting: Early voting began on October 13, 2020.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

Frequently asked questions

See also: Ballotpedia's 2020 Election Help Desk

The 2020 election took place against a backdrop of uncertainty. Our readers had questions about what to expect in elections at all levels of government, from the casting of ballots to the certification of final results. Ballotpedia's 2020 Election Help Desk was designed to answer those questions. Ballotpedia is in the process of compiling and answering frequently asked questions related to the 2020 elections. Questions related to this election will be available soon.

Candidates and election results

United States Senate election in Texas, 2020 (March 3 Republican primary)

United States Senate election in Texas, 2020 (March 3 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Texas

Incumbent John Cornyn defeated Mary Jennings Hegar, Kerry McKennon, David B. Collins, and Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla in the general election for U.S. Senate Texas on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	John Cornyn (R)	53.5	5,962,983
	Mary Jennings Hegar (D)	43.9	4,888,764
	Kerry McKennon (L)	1.9	209,722
	David B. Collins (G)	0.7	81,893
	Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	678

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,144,040
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Arjun Srinivasan (Independent)
Cedric Jefferson (People Over Politics Party)
James Brumley (The Human Rights Party)
Tim Smith (Independent)

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate Texas

Mary Jennings Hegar defeated Royce West in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate Texas on July 14, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Mary Jennings Hegar	52.2	502,516
	Royce West	47.8	459,457

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 961,973 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Texas

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Texas on March 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Mary Jennings Hegar	22.3	417,160
✔	Royce West	14.7	274,074
	Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez	13.2	246,659
	Annie Garcia	10.3	191,900
	Amanda Edwards	10.1	189,624
	Chris Bell	8.5	159,751
	Sema Hernandez	7.4	137,892
	Michael Cooper	4.9	92,463
	Victor Harris	3.2	59,710
	Adrian Ocegueda	2.2	41,566
	Jack Daniel Foster Jr.	1.7	31,718
	D.R. Hunter	1.4	26,902

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,869,419
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

John Love III (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Texas

Incumbent John Cornyn defeated Dwayne Stovall, Mark Yancey, John Castro, and Virgil Bierschwale in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Texas on March 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	John Cornyn	76.0	1,470,669
	Dwayne Stovall	11.9	231,104
	Mark Yancey	6.5	124,864
	John Castro	4.5	86,916
	Virgil Bierschwale	1.1	20,494

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,934,047
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Green convention

Green convention for U.S. Senate Texas

David B. Collins advanced from the Green convention for U.S. Senate Texas on April 18, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		David B. Collins (G)

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate Texas

Kerry McKennon advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate Texas on August 3, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Kerry McKennon (L)

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Wes Benedict (L)
Rhett Rosenquest Smith (L)

U.S. Senate in Texas, 2020: General election polls
Poll	Date	Cornyn	Hegar	Undecided/Other	Margin of error	Sample size	Sponsor
Data for Progress	Oct. 27-Nov. 1	50%	47%	3%^[5]	± 3.2	926	--
Morning Consult	Oct. 22-31, 2020	47%	43%	--	± 2	3,267	--
University of Massachusetts Lowell/YouGov	Oct. 20-26, 2020	49%	44%	10%^[6]	± 4.2	873	--
University of Texas/Dallas Morning News	Oct. 13-20	42%	34%	23%^[7]	± 3.2	925	--
Quinnipiac	Oct. 16-19	49%	43%	8%^[8]	± 2.9	1,145	--

Click [show] to see older poll results
Poll	Date	Cornyn	Hegar	Undecided/Other	Margin of error	Sample size	Sponsor
Data for Progress	Oct. 15-18	43%	36%	22%^[9]	± 3.2	933	Crooked Media/Indivisible
Public Policy Polling	Oct. 14-15	49%	46%	5%	+/- 3.7	712	--
Civiqs	Oct. 3-6	47%	46%	7%^[10]	± 3.4	895	Daily Kos
Data for Progress	Sept. 30-Oct. 5	45%	42%	14%^[11]	± 2.2	1,949	Indivisible
YouGov	Sept. 25-Oct. 4	50%	42%	8%^[12]	± 3.3	908	University of Texas / Texas Tribune
University of Massachusetts Lowell/YouGov	Sept. 18-25, 2020	50%	40%	10%^[13]	± 4.3	882	--
Data for Progress	Sept. 15-22, 2020	40%	38%	22%^[14]	± 3.6	726	Defend Students Action Fund
YouGov	Sept, 15-18, 2020	46%	41%	13%	± 3.5	1,161	CBS News
Public Policy Polling^[15]	Sept. 1-2, 2020	44%	40%	15%	--	743	Giffords
University of Texas-Tyler^[16]	Aug. 28 - Sept. 2, 2020	39%	28%	33%^[17]	± 3.3	901	The Dallas Morning News
Data for Progress^[18]	Aug. 20-25, 2020	46%	40%	15%	± 2.0	2,295	Texas Youth Power Alliance
SPRY Strategies^[19]	July 16-20, 2020	47%	37%	16%^[20]	± 3.5	750	Latino Decisions
YouGov^[21]	July 7-10, 2020	44%	36%	20%^[22]	± 3.4	1,179	CBS News
University of Texas-Tyler^[21]	June 29 - July 7, 2020	42%	29%	27%^[23]	± 2.4	1,677	The Dallas Morning News
Fox News^[21]	June 20-23, 2020	46%	36%	18%^[24]	± 3.0	1,001	N/A
University of Texas-Tyler^[21]	April 18-27, 2020	37%	24%	40%^[25]	± 2.9	1,183	The Dallas Morning News
Marist College^[21]	Feb. 23-27, 2020	49%	41%	11%^[26]	± 2.5	2,409	NBC News

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates in Texas in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Texas, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. Senate candidates, 2020
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Signature formula	Filing fee	Filing fee formula	Filing deadline	Source
Texas	U.S. Senate	Democratic or Republican	N/A	N/A	$5,000.00	Fixed number	12/9/2019	Source
Texas	U.S. Senate	Unaffiliated	83,717	1% of all votes cast for governor in the last election	N/A	N/A	12/9/2019 (declaration of intent); 8/13/2020 (final filing deadline)	Source

Runoff elections in Texas

In Texas, a primary election candidate for congressional, state, or county office must receive a majority of the vote (more than 50%) to be declared the winner. If no candidate wins the requisite majority, a runoff election is held between the top two vote-getters.^[27]

As of 2020, the Texas Secretary of State office stated, "There is no requirement to have previously voted in the general primary election in order to participate in the subsequent primary runoff election. Therefore, if a qualified voter did not vote in the general primary election, they are still eligible to vote in the primary runoff election." The office also stated that "if a voter votes in the primary of one party, they will only be able to vote in that party’s primary runoff election. ... After being affiliated with a party, a voter is not able to change or cancel their party affiliation until the end of the calendar year."^[28]

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[29]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[30]^[31]^[32]

Race ratings: U.S. Senate election in Texas, 2020
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 3, 2020	October 27, 2020	October 20, 2020	October 13, 2020
The Cook Political Report	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican	Lean Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican	Likely Republican
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

Election history