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Several days after his decisive victory, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn tweeted out a TV report noting that his re-election had marked the first time in two decades that a Senate candidate had won more votes than a presidential candidate in Texas.

A Twitter user with a mere 13 followers responded: I didnt vote for Trump, but I voted for you. I know others that could not give their votes to Trump, but cautiously gave votes to you. Represent us. Stop bowing down to Trump, and defend our democracy. PS: The emperor has no clothes!

We couldnt have said it better.

When political leaders make the biggest impacts on their times, more often than not its because two things presented themselves at just the right time: power and opportunity to use it.

Cornyn finds himself standing at just such a juncture, and if he summons the courage and wisdom to use the moment, he could make a lasting contribution to his state and his country.

President Donald Trump continues to lash out at the election results, rallying other voices in the GOP to trash our electoral system. The damage such protestations are doing is profound, ranging from delays in getting the transition process started to more inchoate but lasting harm such as reduced trust in the system by millions of voters.

As weve said before, and others have echoed all weekend, the president has the right to pursue valid legal questions in court.

There is a way to do that, however, without hysterical statements about widespread corruption for which there has yet to be any proof and without Trumps false assertions of triumph despite receiving fewer than the necessary 270 electoral votes and losing the popular vote by 4.2 million votes and counting.

But one necessary ingredient to stop the damage Trump is doing has been sadly lacking. Too few voices among the GOP establishment are willing to say the obvious: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris appear to have won the election. Given that the Trump team has produced no evidence of fraud that, even if proved, would change the outcome of the election, the silence is inexcusable.

Former President George W. Bush of Texas said as much over the weekend. Four senators including Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have spoken up.

But most others havent. That silence has created an opportunity for Cornyn to be especially effective, should he only break his own silence.

Cornyn just won his fourth term in a 10-point landslide. He beat an extraordinarily well-funded Democrat without relying on anyones coattails.

That puts him among the top 20 most senior members of the Senate. Should he finish his fourth term and win another, hell be among the longest-serving senators in modern Texas history.

While South Carolinas Lindsey Graham appears to be groveling in gratitude to Trump for helping him keep his Senate seat, even parroting baseless claims about corruption, Cornyn isnt beholden to Trump.

For the first time, Cornyn appears to be heading to Washington with something even better than a fat war chest: independence. Its a truly rare commodity in the Capitol, and for Cornyn himself.

Eighteen years ago, Cornyn, a respected attorney general who had championed open government and had hoped to do so in Washington, won his first term after leaning heavily on Bush, who was elected president midway through his second term as governor and was riding high. For the next decade, he served largely in the shadow of the more influential Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and then in fear of the tea party movement that put Ted Cruz, his polar opposite, in the Senate.

After winning his third term in 2014, Cornyn was elevated to majority whip as his party took control and for the next four years served loyally as Majority Leader Mitch McConnells chief deputy. He left the leadership post two years ago and ever since has been preparing to win this last election.

All of that is behind him now. In recommending voters replace Cornyn, this editorial board argued that his innate caution had morphed under Trump into near-total acquiescence. We argued that was reason enough to hire a new senator.

Well, the voters disagreed.

Now he returns to Washington not beholden to Trump, unafraid of the tea party and free to chart his own course as a senior member of the Senate who wont have to stand for re-election for six more years.

What better way to signal that new independence than to speak up on behalf of Texas and America to say to Trump: Its time to concede.

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Editorial: Cornyn got more votes than Trump in Texas. He can afford to call Trump out. - Houston Chronicle