HOUSTON -- U.S. Senator John Cornyn is one step closer to keeping his seat in Washington.

He won the GOP primary.

A legislator who served in Afghanistan had the early lead among Democrats competing for the chance to challenge Cornyn on November 4 ^th.

State Representative Rick Noriega of Houston was leading Corpus Christi high school teacher Ray McMurrey and perennial candidates Gene Kelly and Rhett Smith.

Noriega is a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army National Guard who spent 14 months in Afghanistan.

Cornyn already has about $7.6 million in the bank for the fall campaign.