Cruz, O'Rourke push competing visions for Texas
94 views · Published 5 November 2018 · 4:51 · Indexed 24 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(31 Oct 2018) If Texas is changing under his feet, Ted Cruz doesn't see it. The Republican senator, locked in a closer-than-expected re-election battle, insists he's not worried about America's largest, reliably red state slowly turning blue. That's despite a booming Hispanic population and top firms bringing thousands of employees from more liberal locales. Cruz, who built a career as a Capitol Hill tea party troublemaker and fierce Donald Trump foe, now staunchly defends the accomplishments of the Republican-controlled Congress and White House. He says there's a "commonsense supermajority" of conservatives backing him and that his opponent Beto O'Rourke, a rising Democratic star, is too liberal even for Texas independents and moderate Democrats. "We are going to win this election and I'll tell you how I know, because this is Texas," Cruz told supporters who gathered for a recent rally in an American and Texas flag-draped atrium of a furniture store in the suburban Houston community of Richmond. "And, in Texas, it is in our DNA to defend liberty." O'Rourke counters that he's going to win for many of the same reasons. Even though Texas hasn't elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, he says it already has embraced new values that it's willing to fight for such as impeaching Trump, decriminalizing marijuana, combating global warming and implementing universal health care. O'Rourke even has suggested the state can become a model for gun control and relaxed immigration policies. "This state, this people, can be the ones to lead the way," O'Rourke said after climbing a stepladder with a megaphone to address a crowd outside an Austin middle school last week. "Everything that we care about in this country is on the line." Next week's election may prove who is right. But how each side is framing the argument provides insight into just how far their race has come. Polls that this summer showed O'Rourke climbing to within a few points of Cruz now suggest the senator is maintaining a modest lead. Cruz insists that's no accident. "What has really changed in this race that's been important is the silent majority in Texas, the commonsense conservatives, have become engaged," Cruz told The Associated Press after the Richmond event. He also says he's wooed Democrats who see the positions of O'Rourke and other top liberals as too extreme: On paper, the race was never supposed to be even close. A three-term congressman and onetime punk rocker, O'Rourke was virtually unknown outside of his hometown of El Paso before challenging Cruz. The charismatic candidate's calls for bipartisan optimism and willingness to visit all 254 Texas counties — even deeply Republican areas that Democrats gave up on decades ago — made him the toast of national liberal circles. It also sparked speculation that O'Rourke could use an upset of Cruz, or even a close loss, to run for president in 2020. And it helped him shatter Senate campaign fundraising records, including raising an astounding $38-plus million just in the three-month period from July through September. Still, according to U.S. Census estimates, Texas leads the nation in population growth, adding more than 3 million residents since 2010 alone. Hispanics, who tend to favor Democrats, are driving that boom. There also are more people moving to the state than leaving it, many of whom bring more liberal values from such places as California or New York. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/7b6e0e56dc28e97e0426f88110b2e184
