Early votes across state circling back to Trump
Even in U.S. Senate race, president is the deciding factor in ballots cast
AUSTIN — President Donald Trump’s name appears nowhere on the midterm ballot, but he wants people to pretend he’s on there. Voters in Texas are doing just that.
Texans flocked to the polls at unprecedented rates last week to cast early votes in the midterm election. For the first time in more than three decades, the state has a hotly contested Senate race and at least a half dozen U.S. House seats are in play. Those races are largely competitive because of the man who’s not on the ticket: Trump.
Hearst Newspapers interviewed nearly 70 voters at early voting sites across the state — in Houston and San Antonio, the suburbs of Austin, and in Beaumont, Laredo and Midland. Most said the highly watched Senate race between Republican incumbent Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Rep. Beto O’Rourke brought them to the polls.
But in explaining why they supported Cruz or O’Rourke, the conversation inevitably circled back to Trump. Some said a vote for Cruz will ensure that the
president’s policy ideas — like building a border wall — can be realized. Others said their vote for O’Rourke was a protest against the GOP and Trump.
Midterm elections tend to be backlashes against presidents and the party in power, but at least one preliminary analysis of Texas early voting data suggests that Democrats may not be causing the turnout surge.
About 35 percent of those who cast a ballot in the first three days of early voting are Texans who have voted only in Republican primaries in the past, according to an analysis by Republican consultant Derek Ryan. That turnout was up about 3 percentage points compared to the same period of early voting in the 2014 midterm election.
“Democrats are just way more vocal and showy about voting,” said 25-yearold Sophie Beckendorf, who cast her ballot for Cruz on Tuesday in San Marcos, a suburb between Austin and San Antonio.
Her mother, 57-year-old Karin Beckendorf, chimed in: “While Republicans just quietly show up and vote.”
First-time voters
Ryan’s analysis also found that at least 1 in 5 people who cast ballots had never voted in a midterm before, so it’s impossible to say whether they lean toward Democrats or Republicans.
Nancy Zhang, 35, an ultrasound technician and Chinese immigrant who voted in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, believes this could be the first time she has voted in a midterm. She said Trump’s “negativity” spurred her to vote.
“If more people maybe thought they could make a difference, maybe it would be different,” she said.
Stephen Bruette, 32, registered to vote years ago but cast a ballot for the first time on Tuesday.
Bruette, a San Marcos resident, suffers from a traumatic brain injury dating back to his early 20s. He can only see out of one eye and struggles to stay focused, making it difficult for him to hold a job. Bruette, who supported O’Rourke, receives disability benefits and said all the talk about access to health care motivated him to cast a vote.
“If there is something I can do to help the situation in some way, but I’m not in government,” he said. “I like to tell the truth and that seems to be a big problem, especially in 2018 with the government.”
Immigration top issue
Historically, turnout in midterm elections has been fueled by issues, according to political scientist Larry Sabato. In 2006, Democrats were upset with the Iraq war. In 2010, Republicans opposed Obamacare and what they saw as uncontrolled federal spending.
“What issue is the center of this campaign?” said Sabato, head of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. “Donald Trump.”
The Center for Politics worked on a recent poll that showed Democrats and Republicans are concerned about very different issues. It found that 26 percent of likely Democratic voters say health care is the most important problem facing the country. No other issue got a response of more than 15 percent.
For Republicans, 31 percent said immigration is the top problem. Several Republicans at the polls this week mentioned immigration and the need to secure the borders. Stephen Ripp, 67, of Kingwood was energized to defend the party. He voted straight-ticket for Republicans and said he was glad to see Trump delivering on many of his campaign promises.
“It’s fortified my position,” said Ripp, who owns an industrial manufacturing consulting business. He said the Republican tax cuts allowed him to raise salaries and benefits for his 125 employees.
While waiting to vote in San Antonio on Wednesday, Robert and Mary Lou Cruse said they were every bit as motivated as their Democratic counterparts, but want to keep Cruz in office. O’Rourke’s opposition to a border wall upsets Robert Cruse, a Missouri native and retired Air Force sergeant.
“And now we’ve got these immigrants from where, Honduras, coming across the border,” said Robert Cruse, referring to the caravan of Central American migrants traveling north on foot through Mexico.
Trump has blamed Democrats for the caravan and threatened to cut funding to Central American governments.
“We want border security,” said Mary Lou Cruse. “I’m not against legal immigration, but there has to be a quota.”
Outside the Ripley House in Houston’s Second Ward, 56-year-old Bobby Balderas was another Trump supporter looking forward to casting his ballot for Cruz. He sells stainless steel and is the father of three girls. He is also the grandson of Mexican immigrants who sees a need for Trump’s wall.
“I’m going to stand with Trump on this,” he said. “We don’t need criminals.”
Trump remorse
April Morgan, 22, also voted for Trump in 2016, largely to defeat Hillary Clinton. Now she’s voting for O’Rourke to push back against Trump.
“I definitely kind of regret that now,” Morgan said of her vote for Trump. “He lies and he just does whatever it takes to get people in his own party just to win.”
She wants O’Rourke to work with Trump but also “call him out on his bull.” She’s not completely at odds with Trump — she liked that he eased regulations to allow terminally ill patients to use experimental drugs if they have exhausted all other traditional and federally approved options.
But Morgan wants Trump to speak out against movements that further divide people. She’s concerned about racial segregation and white supremacists who feel emboldened to express extremist views.
“I think it’s hard for the American people to really respect someone who stays quiet in times when he needs to be very loud,” she said.
For Morgan and many other Texans, voting is their way of loudly taking a stance. Whether they support Cruz or O’Rourke, embrace or denounce the president, they’re optimistic those votes will mean victory come November.