Franklin, Benjamin
1706–1790

Franklin combined pragmatic problem-solving with religious tolerance (he helped fund a Philadelphia hall open to preachers of any denomination, including a synagogue), free press, civic institutions, late-life abolitionism, and the 'thirteen virtues' of personal moral discipline. Cornyn fits Franklin's pragmatic problem-solving instinct closely — BSCA, Fix NICS, Gang-of-Eight, and his consistent bipartisan engagement on immigration are the kind of cross-aisle institution-building Franklin embodied. His personal conduct and decades-long Senate institutional record satisfy Franklin's personal-discipline frame in ways Paxton's record cannot. Paxton's religious-majoritarian use of state power against Muslim and Catholic institutions is the precise opposite of Franklin's funding of religious institutions of every denomination, and his personal-conduct issues (adultery, securities-fraud settlement) run hard against Franklin's emphasized personal moral discipline. The widest founding-fathers margin in Cornyn's favor.