Tea Party Wants Gohmert to Challenge Cornyn for Senate

Texas tea party activists are continuing to urge Rep. Louie Gohmert to challenge Sen. John Cornyn in the Senate primary next year, even though the congressman rejected that idea last month.

Katrina Pierson, a member of the Texas Tea Party Caucus Advisory Board, and JoAnn Fleming, executive director of east Texas' Grassroots America We The People, told the National Review that their members would like to see Gohmert take on his Republican colleague.

"I’ve had people ask me to ask him," Fleming said. "That hasn’t diminished."

Texas tea party activists have had their differences with Cornyn, but they were particularly upset when he declined to back Utah Sen. Mike Lee’s attempt to include an amendment denying funding for Obamacare in a government spending bill, the National Review reported Wednesday.

Cornyn also has annoyed tea party members by failing to hold more town-hall meetings, Fleming said.

"A lot of elected officials, particularly those who have been in Washington a long time, will come into a town and meet with local and state elected officials," Pierson told the National Review. "They will meet with big contributors, and they forget that they need to meet with the average Joe and Jane on the street."

There's still time for the tea party to mount a primary challenge to Cornyn, but Gohmert made it clear last month in a private meeting with his fellow GOP House members that he won't lead it, the Washington Examiner reported.