Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn may not have a serious primary rival yet in his reliably Republican home state of Texas — but he’s running campaign ads as if he did.

On Monday Cornyn aired his first spot of the cycle, called “Conservative Like Texas.” His campaign made an initial buy of “several hundred thousand dollars,” according to a Cornyn source.

“Our John Cornyn, conservative like you, like Texas,” the narrator declares in the spot.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTogsQqQV64

argues

This summer, Cruz repeatedly declined to endorse Cornyn’s re-election.

But so far no serious conservative or tea party candidate has emerged to challenge Cornyn. What’s more, it’s quickly getting too late for any candidate to pull together a viable campaign in one of the most expensive states in the country.

Privately, Cornyn sources are watching the calendar, awaiting the Lone Star State’s Dec. 9 filing deadline.