Cuban, Mark
1958–
Cuban — Dallas-based, Cost Plus Drugs founder, Shark Tank investor — has built a distinctive public-values identity around healthcare-pricing transparency, pro-business pragmatism, and rich-people-should-pay-more-taxes honesty. Cuban has been publicly critical of Trump and the GOP populist turn, which gives Cornyn — the institutional Republican who has been measured in opposing Trump's worst excesses — more credit than Paxton receives. But on the core Cuban issue of healthcare-pricing transparency, both candidates' anti-prescription-drug-price-negotiation framework, anti-Medicare-expansion votes, and opposition to PBM reform run against the Cost Plus Drugs framework. Paxton additionally has been on the wrong side of the regulatory transparency (the Tylenol lawsuit, the 'request to examine' statute use, the Tribune/ProPublica forum-shopping investigation) Cuban built his post-NBA reputation on.
Sources
- Sen. John Cornyn, official Senate website and 2026 re-election campaign issues page, accessed May 2026 (cornyn.senate.gov; johncornyn.com). (full list)
- Texas Tribune / ProPublica, 'Paxton files lawsuits in courts that could have more favorable outcomes,' May 20, 2026. (full list)
- Cornyn votes on ACA repeal-and-replace (2017 skinny repeal, BCRA, Graham-Cassidy); Cornyn as co-sponsor of Health Savings Account expansion; statements on Medicare/Medicaid block grants; opposition to enhanced premium tax credit extension (2025). (full list)
- Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company launch (Jan. 2022) and pricing transparency model; public Twitter/X commentary on tax policy and Trump-era politics; Dallas Mavericks ownership profile. (full list)