“In Cornyn’s case, there simply wasn’t much objective evidence that he was anything other than a strong conservative – if voting records count for anything,” said Larry J. Sabato, a University of Virginia political scientist. “And Stockman was an inadequate challenger, to put it kindly.” He added, “But the Tea Party and its very conservative allies are still strong in Texas, as some other results indicated. They’ll be around for a long time in some form or another in the Lone Star State.”