Washington, George
1789–1797

Washington's Farewell Address is the urtext on the dangers of 'the spirit of faction' that 'agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies' — he warned specifically against leaders who would put party loyalty above country. Cornyn is the strongest match to Washington's anti-faction institutionalism on this entire ballot: a four-term senator who voted to certify Biden's 2020 election on January 6, defended Senate filibuster norms, lost the 2024 Senate Republican Leader race to Thune by 29-23 but accepted the outcome, and has stayed institutionally measured even as Paxton's primary challenge and Trump's endorsement have made personalist politics personally costly for him. Washington's warnings against demagogues and foreign-policy alliance-keeping map almost exactly to Cornyn's pro-Ukraine, pro-NATO, anti-broadest-tariffs posture. He loses one point on his Texas-style executive-power deference within the GOP coalition. Talarico's anti-faction framing through term limits, anti-corruption package, refusal to take corporate PAC money, and 'coffee with the NRA member' civility tracks Washington's institutional restraint. He loses points on his expanded-federal-government economic agenda, which Washington would have found troubling.