Cruz warns party faithful it’s ‘real race’ in November
Senator cites his 2018 close contest as a sign of what future could hold
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a dire message to Texas Republican activists Saturday about the danger President Donald Trump faces in November here.
“This is a real race,” Cruz told the Republican Party’s convention audience, pointing to five consecutive polls that show Trump and Democrat Joe Biden neck and neck in the state.
And Cruz would know. In 2018, he survived the fight of his political life, narrowly defeating El Paso Democrat Beto O’Rourke by less than 3 percentage points in what was the closest a Democrat has come to winning a U.S. Senate seat in Texas since Sen. Lloyd Bentsen carried the state in 1988. Cruz told the audience that what happened
to him is a “warning sign” of the tough road ahead.
“Let me tell you right now, every one of those crazed leftists that showed up in 2018 are showing up in 2020,” Cruz said. “And they are even angrier.”
Though Trump has scoffed at suggestions that Texas could pick Biden over him, and as national Republicans publicly insist that they have the race locked down here, Cruz’s message reflects the behind-the-scenes concern of a party that saw Democrats register more voters in 2018 and nearly double their turnout, even outspending Republicans in some races.
While Cruz survived, the casualties were significant. Two GOPcontrolled congressional districts flipped to Democrats as well as two Texas Senate seats, 12 Texas House seats and scores of judicial offices, especially in Harris County.
Republican Party of Texas Chairman James Dickey has acknowledged that after 2018, the party had to ramp up its game to counter the aggressive push of the opposition. Dickey on Saturday detailed the Texas GOP’s recent voter registration efforts, upgraded candidate recruitment programs and a much-improved fundraising machine that has the party banking $5 million for November — the most cash on hand the party has ever had going into a presidential election.
“We are ready for them,” Dickey said. “We will keep Texas red.”
Also Saturday, a legal sideshow to the convention was resolved when the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a U.S. district judge’s ruling that the party could hold an in-person convention at Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner had canceled the in-person event July 8, which prompted the Republican Party to join in a lawsuit challenging the decision.
After the mayor’s order, the party had intended to use the center as a backup option as it went forward with its virtual convention, which was plagued with glitches when it launched Thursday and was postponed until Saturday.
Ramping up registration
For decades, Democrats have talked about Texas becoming a battleground state, only to watch their statewide candidates get crushed over and over — Republican statewide candidates have been undefeated since 1994. But the races have slowly grown more competitive over the past six years.
In 2014, progressive groups flooded the state with programs to navigate barriers to voter registration efforts. Since then, Texas voter rolls have grown by more than 2.3 million, with the biggest growth coming in Harris, Bexar and Travis counties, all now solidly blue.
And over the last two election cycles, Democratic Party Chairman
Gilberto Hinojosa has changed the party’s approach to candidate recruitment. In the past, the Democrats would recruit a candidate for the top of the ticket with hopes it would drive turnout down the ballot. But in 2018, the party made sure to recruit good candidates downticket in every possible race to spur get-out-the-vote efforts on the local level that could help a statewide candidate — as it did for O’Rourke in 2018.
Dickey acknowledged that his party had to launch countermeasures.
“For years in Texas, Democrats have had the playing field to themselves when it comes to voter registration,” Dickey said. “Well, no more.”
Dickey said the state party has held its most aggressive voter registration program ever. It has brought more than 120,000 new
Republican voters onto the voter rolls in a year.
And like the Democrats, Dickey said the GOP has worked hard to recruit candidates deep down the ballot in local and judicial races to make sure the other party doesn’t get free passes on election day.
In June, Biden told Texas Democrats at their convention that they have a shot at winning Texas.
“We have a real chance to turn the state blue because of the work all of you have done,” Biden said at their convention. “We’re building a diverse coalition to win up and down the ballot in the fall.”
Trump has dismissed polling that shows he’s only up 1 point in Texas, saying they are just wrong.
“I’m not 1 point up in Texas,” Trump said Monday. “We’re many points up.” But on Saturday, Cruz had a very different message — warning that Texas is in jeopardy of going blue if Texas Republicans aren’t ready for one of the toughest presidential battles the state has ever seen.
“If the Democrats win Texas, it’s all over,” Cruz warned.
Texas has 38 electoral votes. If Democrats hold traditionally blue states such as California and New York, adding Texas to the mix would make it virtually impossible for Trump to win enough electoral votes elsewhere to retain the White House.
Cruz warned that could have far-reaching effects down the ballot, where more seats in Congress could flip to Democrats.
“We have four months to stop a blue wave from destroying the great state of Texas,” Cruz said.