EYES ON 2024: Texas’ rising stars lose out on head start with virtual format
This year’s nontraditional political conventions are costing the candidates for both parties an important opportunity to raise money, schmooze and make campaign plans.
No, we’re not talking about Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Think Texas Lt.
Gov. Dan Patrick, U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Greg Abbott, all of whom have been mentioned as potential presidential candidates.
Most Americans know the conventions as wall-towall speeches in a sports arena. But outside of those venues, there are typically hundreds of events far from
public eye where up-and-coming stars of the parties build relationships with activists and media from across the nation.
In a normal cycle, Texas political players like Cruz, Abbott, Patrick and Crenshaw would be all over Charlotte working donors, interest groups and the media to elevate their brands, said Ford O’Connell, a veteran GOP strategist originally from Texas. For Democrats, the same would have been happening for people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Beto O’Rourke and Julián Castro.
“There’s a lot of action that gets lost because of COVID and how these conventions are being run this year,” O’Connell said.
In 2012 in Tampa, then-Gov. Rick Perry, who would run for president again in 2016, used time outside the convention arena to deliver speeches and attend receptions with delegations from Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida, while also taking time to join an anti-abortion rally in Tampa.
Other future presidential contenders were keeping similar busy schedules, as Jeb Bush worked private fundraisers in nearby Ybor City and gave rousing speeches to groups like the Hispanic Leadership Network as he laid the groundwork for his 2016 presidential run.
O’Connell said it is a whirlwind week that is as busy for the rising stars of the party as it is for the actual presidential candidates.
For candidates looking toward the next presidential cycle, the convention is usually a big moment to really lay some groundwork, said Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, who has been attending conventions since the 1970s.
“The real losers here are the candidates looking at 2024,” said Sabato, pointing to those, like Cruz, who have expressed hopes of running again for the White House.
Not quite the same buzz
With both the Democratic and Republican conventions moved to online platforms because of COVID-19, the parties have arranged videotaped addresses and Zoom calls among delegates to try to replicate the expected breakfast meetings and receptions.
Texas Republicans did send a small delegation to Charlotte this week at the start of the convention that included Patrick and Allen West, the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. Patrick participated in the roll call vote in which he announced Texas had awarded all of its delegates to President Trump.
Typically that would have been done in an arena with more than 20,000 party faithful cheering on. It is just one of the many ways the conventions this year are so different.
“Yes, you definitely lose some of that buzz you’d usually have,” said Toni Anne Dashiell, a Texas Republican who is serving as the chairwoman of the Republican National Convention.
She said there is no lack of excitement and energy for the convention, but delegates miss the face time with elected officials and party stars they normally would have.
Nevertheless, Texans are still playing a role in the official lineups. On Wednesday night, Crenshaw will be part of a lineup of speakers that will include Vice President Mike Pence. And during the Democratic Convention last week, O’Rourke, Harris County
Judge Lina Hidalgo and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, were among those included in the broadcast during various segments.
Benefits to virtual format
But conventions are about much more than just what happens onstage, Sabato said. Conventions have become almost mini-festivals with concert performances, policy round table discussions and big corporations organizing events and receptions. Artists like Willie Nelson, Kid Rock and the Zac Brown Band have all been known to play in convention cities over the years.
“There is a reason why people pay thousands of dollars to go to conventions and it isn’t just to see guys like President Trump up close,” O’Connell said.
But there are benefits for both parties in having the more subdued conventions. Both parties get to avoid unscripted moments that can quickly become a distraction. In 2016 in Philadelphia, Bernie Sanders supporters repeatedly booed and jeered during the first night of the Democratic National Convention. At the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Cruz’s speech was met with a cascade of booing after he refused to endorse Trump.
Patrick said he sees a benefit in Trump getting out of the big-arena format for more subdued interactions with people during segments that have aired over the week during the convention.
“I think it’s a blessing in disguise,” Patrick said in an interview with reporters on Tuesday.
Patrick, Trump’s Texas campaign chairman, said the president is coming across relaxed and matter-of-fact, a side of Trump that people might miss at a big rally.
“I really think that is going to resonate with the American people,” Patrick said.