Today, Ted Cruz gets his first official
Democratic opponent in next year’s Texas senatorial race. Beto O’Rourke, a
Congressman representing Texas’ 16th district, has formally declared his intention to challenge Cruz’s bid for a second term.
About the best that can be said for O’Rourke’s
nascent campaign is that, as a sitting member of Congress, he is a more serious
candidate than others Democrats have nominated for statewide office in Texas in
recent years. Which isn’t exactly saying much. And, if he does end up being the
nominee (several others are reportedly also looking at a run), he will likely
do better in a head-to head matchup than Wendy Davis.
And that’s all the good that can be said
about him. To say that O’Rourke is a poor fit for Texas statewide office is an
understatement. His voting record and public statements paint him as a fairly
generic liberal Democrat—opposed to gun rights, enforcement of federal
immigration law, and just about every other issue that has won at the ballot
box in Texas over the past quarter century. He took part in the Democrats’
Congressional sit-in last summer. He won his congressional seat in 2012 by
primarying a sitting member for not being liberal enough, and Hillary Clinton
won the district by double digits in 2016—while losing the state by ten points.
The sixteenth district is generally rated “Safe Democrat”, and O’Rourke didn’t
even face a Republican opponent in last year’s election.
Ted Cruz is without question the better
member of Congress, and should be the favorite to beat O’Rourke. But, all that
being said, it would be a sore mistake to ignore the race as a sideshow.
Democrats—and establishment Republicans—will be looking to make an example of
Cruz for never failing to stand strong for conservative principles, and O’Rourke
will undoubtedly rake in cash and endorsements from across the country.
For all that is good, we must keep Ted
Cruz in the Senate. No matter what, the Texas Senate race will be one of the
most important of 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment