John Cornyn got crushed 62 to 37 in his own state last week.
Two sitting Republican senators are now going home because they couldn't deliver Trump's top priority.
And the grassroots activist who spent 70 days camped outside the Senate demanding voter ID has formally requested a meeting with Majority Leader John Thune – who is up for reelection in 2028.
John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy Lost Their Primaries Over the SAVE America Act
Scott Presler built the pressure campaign that helped end two Senate careers.
Day after day, the election integrity activist posted updates to his 467,000 Instagram followers tagging Thune directly.
He stood outside Thune's office door at SD-511, pointed at the camera, and made the demand in plain English: pass the SAVE America Act, which requires proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot.
Republican voters heard him.
Bill Cassidy of Louisiana finished third in his own primary – a stunning collapse for a two-term incumbent.
John Cornyn of Texas watched Ken Paxton destroy him 62 to 37 – after Paxton offered to drop out of the race entirely if Cornyn could just get the SAVE America Act passed.
Cornyn couldn't do it.
Trump endorsed Paxton, cited the SAVE America Act directly as a factor, and watched his former Senate ally get wiped out.
Now Presler is at Thune's door – this time as the man who just proved the threat is real.
Thune Has Blocked the SAVE America Act and Called Voter ID Supporters a Paid Influencer Ecosystem
Thune's response to months of grassroots pressure was to call it a "paid influencer ecosystem" amplifying manufactured outrage.
He told reporters there was nothing he could do – the math simply didn't work.
"We don't have the votes either to proceed, get on, a talking filibuster nor to sustain one," Thune said repeatedly.
Trump called him out by name from the Oval Office.
"I'm disappointed. I like John a lot, but there's a couple of Republicans that are foolish people," Trump told reporters.
Turning Point Action – which spent nearly $10 million on voter outreach alongside Presler – has now warned it will recruit and fund a primary challenger against Thune in 2028 if the bill stays dead.
Presler himself went further, promising personally to lead that primary campaign if the SAVE America Act doesn't pass before November's midterms.
The bill passed the House 218 to 213 in February.
Trump has called it "one of the most IMPORTANT and CONSEQUENTIAL pieces of legislation in the history of Congress."
Polling shows overwhelming support for nationwide voter ID across racial and political lines – support that makes Thune's inaction impossible to explain to the voters who handed Republicans this majority.
There is no constituency against this bill except Senate procedure and the Democrats hiding behind it.
https://x.com/sgtnewsnetwork/status/2059670772847939741“>https://x.com/sgtnewsnetwork/status/2059670772847939741
The 2026 Midterms Are Coming and Senate Republicans Still Have No Path to Pass Voter ID
Thune dismissed the Cornyn and Cassidy losses as the result of closed primaries attracting only the most conservative voters.
That's a dangerous read.
Cornyn put his name on the SAVE America Act, voted to advance it on the floor, and publicly backed every procedural maneuver his colleagues proposed to move it forward.
It didn't save him.
What got both men fired wasn't opposition to Trump – it was the inability to deliver.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana has already announced he will force another SAVE Act vote during the upcoming reconciliation vote-a-rama.
Two dozen House Republicans sent Thune an open letter threatening to block every Senate bill until the SAVE America Act passes – calling it their own filibuster.
Anna Paulina Luna said Thune is "blocking" Trump's agenda and called it a betrayal of the voters who delivered the majority.
Thune told Fox News he has created "false expectations" and that the talking filibuster strategy has "never proven successful in passing legislation."
His colleagues who believed that explanation are no longer in the Senate.
Presler's meeting request is not a courtesy call.
It's a warning delivered to a man with a two-year window to decide which side of this he wants to be on.
Cassidy tried to run out the clock.
It didn't go well.
Sources:
- David Marcus, "MAGA Voters Trigger Anti-Incumbent Earthquake – Little Wonder," Fox News, May 2026.
- Ben Whedon, "Ken Paxton Ousts John Cornyn in Historic Texas Senate Primary," Just the News, May 27, 2026.
- Washington Examiner Staff, "Scott Presler's Pressure Campaign Fuels SAVE America Act Standoff," Washington Examiner, April 12, 2026.
- Washington Examiner Staff, "Turning Point Threatens to Primary Leader Thune Over SAVE America Act," Washington Examiner, May 2026.
- Washington Examiner Staff, "Thune Shrugs Off MAGA Pressure, Calls It a Paid Influencer Ecosystem," Washington Examiner, March 10, 2026.
- Adam Pack, Elizabeth Elkind, Alex Miller, "Two Dozen House Republicans Go to War With Senate GOP Over SAVE America Act," Fox News, March 18, 2026.
- Alex Miller, "Thune Accuses Critics of Creating False Expectations," Fox News, March 20, 2026.
- "Senate Shelves SAVE as Filibuster Debate Rages," Punchbowl News, May 2026.
