The Honorable John Cornyn was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002 and is currently serving his fourth term. He sits on the Senate Finance, Judiciary, Intelligence, Foreign Relations, and Budget Committees, where he helps craft legislation on behalf of more than 31 million Texans. From 2013 until 2019, Cornyn was chosen by his colleagues to serve as the Republican whip, the second-highest ranking position in the Senate Republican Conference. A San Antonio native, Cornyn has served the people of Texas for nearly four decades, as a district judge, a member of the Texas Supreme Court, and Texas attorney general, before representing the Lone Star State in the U.S. Senate. 

Mary Kate Cary is the director of Think Again @ UVA. She served as a White House speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush from 1989 to early 1992, authoring more than 100 of his presidential addresses. She also has ghostwritten several books related to President Bush’s life and career and served as senior writer for communications for the 1988 Bush-Quayle presidential campaign. Currently an adjunct professor in the University of Virginia’s department of politics, Cary teaches classes on political speechwriting, the greatest American political speeches, and the 2020 presidential election.  In her first year in the politics department, she was recognized by the UVA Student Council for excellence in teaching.