The Tweeting Whip

By Niels Lesniewski

Posted January 13, 2015 at 5:00am

Send a tweet to @JohnCornyn, and it turns out you’re actually reaching Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn.

The Texas Republican says he uses the account to share what he’s reading or paying attention to with his constituents and other followers (he has more than 63,000). Cornyn’s Twitter account has issued more than 15,000 tweets since the early adopter joined in February 2008, and he’s the highest-ranking member of Congress who is regularly doing the tweeting on his own.

“Social media is an important part of communicating these days and keeping in touch with what your constituents are thinking, although it does have a way of emboldening some people who perhaps wouldn’t have the courage to tell you to your face how they feel,” Cornyn said in an interview with CQ Roll Call. (More on that here .)

He frequently sends out links to newspaper and magazine reports about what’s happening on Capitol Hill, as well as a variety of other topics, from the possibility of the Oakland Raiders moving to Texas to Bao Bao the panda playing in the snow.

He’s among a small cadre of senators who sometimes even engage with their audiences.

“I think it’s helpful because what it allows me to do is I’ll, during the course of the day, I’ll hear things, see things, read things that I think are really kind of interesting but that most people wouldn’t necessarily have access to,” Cornyn said. “But, you can’t have too thin a skin.”