Democrat O’Rourke goes on attack in debate with Cruz
SAN ANTONIO — Democrat Beto O’Rourke abandoned his usual message of unity and optimism on Tuesday and laid into Ted Cruz, hoping to reverse polls that show him fading against the Republican incumbent during the second debate of a Texas Senate race that’s become one of the nation’s most closely watched.
During the opening moments, Cruz criticized O’Rourke for past votes supporting a never-enacted oil production tax that might have hit oil-rich Texas hard. O’Rourke responded by evoking a moniker Donald Trump bestowed on the senator when the pair were bitter rivals during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, saying, “Sen. Cruz is not going to be honest with you. He’s going to make up positions and votes that I’ve never held.”
“It’s why the president called him Lyin’ Ted,” O’Rourke said “and it’s why the nickname stuck because it’s true.”
A former Ivy League debate champion, Cruz shot back, “It’s clear Congressman O’Rourke’s pollsters have told him to come out on the attack.”
Democrats have long dreamed about a growing Hispanic population helping to flip Texas from red to blue and shaking up the electoral map. But polls that once showed O’Rourke within striking distance of a monumental upset now suggest Cruz may be edging further ahead. No Democrat has won any of Texas’ nearly 30 statewide offices since 1994, the country’s longest political losing streak.
With election day just three weeks away, Tuesday might be one of O’Rourke’s last shots to gain ground. It was the race’s last scheduled debate after one in Houston was canceled amid Senate floor votes on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
Cruz wants to participate in a previously scheduled town hall featuring just O’Rourke in the U.S.-Mexico border city of McAllen on Thursday night, but it’s unclear if that will come together in time.
The pair used this matchup to clash on abortion regulations, climate change, the nomination of Kavanaugh and a border wall backed by the Trump administration. Things never got nasty or overly personal — the borrowed “Lyin’ Ted” was the only name-calling, but both candidates tried to impress voters by criticizing their opponent’s records.
When O’Rourke said he wanted to expand federally funded health care to more Americans, Cruz said the congressman agreed with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and supported socialized medicine that would cost trillions and require sky-high tax increases. O’Rourke accused Cruz of not doing enough to stand up to Trump when it came to Russia and that the state needs a “fulltime senator” rather than someone who concentrates on running for president.