Less than 48 hours after a gunman stormed an elementary school and killed 19 children and two teachers in his home state of Texas, Sen. John Cornyn walked straight from the floor of the U.S. Senate into Republican leader Mitch McConnell's office.
The Texas Republican had just returned to Washington from the scene of the horrific school shooting in Uvalde when he was summoned by McConnell to lead the GOP in fraught negotiations over a potential legislative response to the tragedy. Eager, if wary, he took the job.
