El Paso liberal trying to dye deep-red Texas blue

Optimistic O’Rourke has incumbent Cruz in unexpected fight.

At historically black Prairie View A&M University near Houston, students lined up to see a politician who many of them referred to simply as Beto. That would be Beto O’Rourke, a liberal Democrat from El Paso, the in far western corner of the state. It’s a description that should eliminate him as a serious contender for the U.S. Senate in Texas, which has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994. Yet prodigious grass-roots fundraising, quirky or iconoclastic viral videos and a carefully curated image of authenticity have vaulted O’Rourke into a surprisingly close fight for the Senate seat that Republican Ted Cruz has held for the past six years. Cruz has countered the challenge by questioning O’Rourke’s ideological and cultural bona fides as a Texan. He has accused the Democrat of wanting to make Texas “just like California” — a sharp barb in a state whose natives point with pride to its independent Lone Star identity. “Born and raised in Texas,” O’Rourke said before taking the stage at Prairie View. “Only one candidate in this race has been to every one of the 254 counties of Texas.” The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has moved the contest into the toss-up category, a remarkable step that has Democrats giddily throwing money at a race that is still a long shot. Although Cruz has held a lead in almost every poll since the Texas primary in March, the margins are narrower than would be expected in such a deeply Republican state. Cruz’s response to his own surprisingly precarious re-election prospects has been to attack O’Rourke as being propped up by liberal interest groups and reliant on campaign dollars from Hollywood and elsewhere outside Texas. Cruz also mocks the gauzy profiles of his challenger in national media. “Their favorite adjective is ‘Kennedy-esque’ — usually with his hair blowing in the wind. And none of the profiles talk about his extreme policy positions,” Cruz wisecracked to laughter at a jam-packed rally at an Italian restaurant outside Houston. “They just say he’s got really good hair. Apparently we’re electing clump a of hair!” Two hours later, cooling off in the passenger seat of an air-conditioned pickup truck, Cruz elaborates. “My point on the hair actually is that the glowing media profiles ignore substance,” he said. “They’re designed to hide that his record is out of step with the people of Texas. “If you look at his policy agenda, if Beto O’Rourke were running in Massachusetts, he would be running to Elizabeth Warren’s left,” Cruz said. The contest isn’t always about policy issues, though. Cruz’s backers have tweeted out old photos of O’Rourke in a punk-rock band, while details of a decades-old drunk-driving arrest have surfaced in Texas media. O’Rourke has taken stances that put him at the opposite political pole of Cruz and make him something of an anomaly in Texas. He’s in favor of abortion rights, legalizing marijuana and curb- ing the sale of assault rifles. He’s against the border wall and the president’s hard-line immigration policy. “We have nearly 200,000 Dreamers who call Texas home. Ted Cruz has promised to deport them,” O’Rourke told reporters at Prairie View A&M. “Small business owners and large business owners alike tell me immigration is critical to the future of the state.” He accused Cruz of bowing to President Donald Trump rather than standing up for Texas on trade, saying no state will be hit harder by retaliatory tariffs that will affect farmers, ranchers and manufacturers. T he public images of O’Rourke and Cruz differ as starkly as their policy positions. The Democrat has crafted a public persona of youth and optimism though — even O’Rourke, 46, is less than two years younger than Cruz. The Republican has long been stuck with the label of being less than likable, even among colleagues.