Texas Democrat Closes In on Ted Cruz’s Senate Seat
Beto O'Rourke, a state representative from El Paso, raised an astonishing $1.2 million from 39,000 grassroots contributions, despite a negative ad blitz by the incumbent, and polls suggest a surprisingly tight race.
Beto O'Rourke. (YouTube screen grab)
The Texas Senate race is shaping up to be a much more interesting battle than anyone could have predicted. Between Democratic El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s prodigious grassroots fundraising and his relentless personal tours of all 254 counties in the Lone Star State, he has turned the race against infamous Texas Sen. Ted Cruz competitive, with a recent Texas Lyceum poll showing the race within 2 percentage points.
Cruz responded to news of the tight race with three separate ads attacking O’Rourke on Friday. One spot tells viewers that O’Rourke is “more extreme than he wants you to know,” and that his immigration proposals are to the left of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. Another falsely claims that O’Rourke said “we should consider legalizing all narcotics, including heroin.”
But the result of Cruz’s negative ad blitz is likely not what he was hoping for. Over the weekend after the ads were released, O’Rourke raised an astonishing $1.2 million from 39,000 grassroots contributions.
“I turned to you, and asked for your help in raising the money to make sure that I can stay on the road and continue to listen to our fellow Texans,” he said in a video address to supporters on Monday announcing the campaign haul. “To make sure that we can get our message out on TV, and be a big, bold, confident, strong answer to these small, petty, negative attack ads.”
In response to Friday’s attack ads, you just raised $1,274,528 over the weekend. No PACs, just people — making 39,000 contributions at an average of $32. pic.twitter.com/FTcP7ytwu3
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) August 6, 2018
At the outset, Cruz did not appear to regard O’Rourke as a serious challenger. One of his first public acknowledgements of his opponent was a radio ad criticizing O’Rourke for using his childhood nickname. But the new deluge of attack ads — and his offer to hold five debates with O’Rourke in the coming weeks — indicates that he now views the race as much more of a threat.
His attempts to address that threat so far, however, hardly appear to be helping him.
Your support is crucial…With an uncertain future and a new administration casting doubt on press freedoms, the danger is clear: The truth is at risk.
Now is the time to give. Your tax-deductible support allows us to dig deeper, delivering fearless investigative reporting and analysis that exposes what’s really happening — without compromise.
During this holiday season, stand with our courageous journalists. Donate today to protect a free press, uphold democracy and ensure the stories that matter are told.
Politics
Joaquin Castro? Colin Allred? Lina Hidalgo? Clay Jenkins? Anyone?
Joe Biden has overtaken Bernie Sanders after a string of endorsements. But with half the country still to vote, that momentum may not hold.
A pair of journalists take aim at the Vermont senator and succeed only in exposing their willful ignorance and ideological commitments.
The presidential campaign is, by some measures, in its second year. Here's what Chris Hedges had to say about the contest in January 2019.
Ex-Texas congressman who failed to replicate the energy of his 2018 Senate campaign says he will stay active in fight to beat Donald Trump.
Front-runners Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren clash over such issues as health care at Texas Southern University.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.