AUSTIN — Houston Democratic state Rep. Rick Noriega said Monday he is exploring a run for the U.S. Senate, the same day Republicans said they were launching a grassroots campaign to re-elect incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and others.

Noriega said he is forming an exploratory committee and will travel the state talking with voters beginning this week. Barring something like a family tragedy that could make him reconsider, he will run, he said.

He said the war in Iraq is the major issue facing the United States.

His experience as a state legislator, veteran of the war in Afghanistan, and work patrolling the border in Laredo with Operation Jump Start have prepared him well for the job, he said.

He believes the federal government should implement the suggestions in the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which include a timeline for withdrawing from Iraq, he said.

He said Cornyn has failed on issues of Iraq, education, health care and improving standard of living for voters.

“We’re off track right now,” Noriega said. “What are we going to do to get us back on track?”

Also Monday morning, Cornyn appeared at a downtown Austin hotel with Gov. Rick Perry, former Secretary of State Roger Williams and Republican Party leaders to launch Texas Victory 2008, a grassroots effort to elect Republicans to office.

It is the first statewide, grassroots effort from Republicans since 2002, said Williams, who is chairman of the effort.

Cornyn, who plans to defend his Senate seat from whatever Democratic challenger emerges from the March primary, said he wants to see other Republicans get into office as well.

“I would consider it a hollow victory unless we take advantage of this great opportunity to make sure that we elect Republicans from the White House down to the local courthouse,” Cornyn said.

If he runs, Noriega would face Mikal Watts in the Democratic Primary. The winner would face Cornyn in November 2008.

Watts, a trial lawyer with deep pockets, on Monday released a statement saying Cornyn is the “chief apologist for the Bush Administration and their failed policies from immigration to health care to the war in Iraq.”

“I’m not surprised that people are thinking about this race,” Watts said.