Betomania Puts Texas In Play For Democrats
EL PASO, Texas The question for many political observers as polls closed Tuesday in perhaps the nation’s most closely watched Senate race was not whether rising Democratic star Beto O’Rourke would lose, but by how much.
canada goose coats on sale The answer, Canada Goose Coats On Sale according to the unofficial final tally: not quite 2.7 percentage points. canada goose coats on sale
Canada Goose Jackets While throngs of his disappointed supporters mourn his loss to incumbent Republican Ted Cruz, the larger theme for the state’s Democratic Party is not that Texas remains under conservative control, but that the margin by which Republicans won the Senate race and some other key contests was far narrower than anyone would have expected not so long ago. Canada Goose Jackets
Attorney General Ken Paxton won by 3.6 points; Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick triumphed by less than 5. These two incumbents won their races canada goose uk outlet four years ago by margins of more than 20 points, and their opponents this time were hardly political juggernauts.
Canada Goose Parka And even as popular Gov. Greg Abbott cruised to re election, his underfunded and uninspiring opponent, former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez, still winnowed the gap from Wendy Davis’s 20 point obliteration in 2014 to a less atrocious 13.4 point spread. House districts one in cheap canada goose uk the Houston area, the other part of the Dallas metroplex. Canada Goose Parka
cheap Canada Goose None of this is good news for Texas Republicans. Heading into 2020, the state is now far more competitive than it has been in at least a generation. And O’Rourke, at the start of the year an obscure House member from El Paso,gets the credit. cheap Canada Goose
canada goose clearance sale “The long lasting impact that he will have is that more very high quality (Democratic) candidates will choose to run and I think more Texans will believe that their votes will really count,” Austin City Councilman Greg Casar told HuffPost. “And now nationally, people really have to talk about Texas as a purple state.” canada goose clearance sale
Underlying reasons at work before O’Rourke’s emergence help explain the trend. State Democratic officials are quick to point out that their efforts to mobilize low canada goose propensity voters began years ago. Nonprofit groups including several nonpartisan ones have also amped up that work in a state where turnout rates lag, especially among Hispanics.
Democrats made a point of contesting more congressional races this year, upping the stakes for voters. The Texas electorate is also becoming younger, more urban and more diverse. All of that favors Democrats.
canada goose coats But the catalyst was undoubtedly O’Rourke. canada goose coats
buy canada goose jacket “Essentially, there was a. blue wave” inspired by support for O’Rourke and antipathy toward President Donald Trump, Rice University political scientist Mark Jones told HuffPost. buy canada goose jacket
canada goose “Beto O’Rourke, barring a miracle, was always going to lose,” Jones added. “The question was, could he narrow the margin of defeat to a low enough number that he could create enthusiasm for Democrats looking to canada goose clearance the future?” canada goose
That effect played out across the ballot. Along with the two House seats they flipped, Democrats nearly picked up a third Rep. Will Hurd, a moderate Republican (and a good friend of O’Rourke’s), appears to have eked out a win by fewer than 1,200 votes. His challenger, Gina Ortiz Jones, has refused to concede until the absentee ballots are all counted.
canada goose black friday sale In the state legislature, Republicans held onto strong majorities but lost two Senate seats and a dozen in the House. State Rep. Matt Rinaldi, who famously called Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report undocumented activists at the Capitol last year, was among the losers. It wasn’t an isolated result. Some of the most polarizing movement conservatives either lost or saw their margins of victory decrease. canada goose black friday sale
“The biggest lesson is that Republican candidates who have a profile of being more reasonable and less polarizing did significantly better than candidates seen as less flexible and more polarizing,” Jones said.
Canada Goose Outlet With Canada Goose Jackets the canadian goose jacket state’s biennial legislative session set to start canada goose black friday sale in January, that development will make it harder canada goose coats on sale for hardline conservatives like Patrick to canada goose uk black friday marshal an ideologically driven agenda as he did last year when the lieutenant governor relentlessly pushing for transgender bathroom restrictions. (The measure ultimately failed.) Canada Goose Outlet
canadian goose jacket But the bigger takeaway is that the Texas Democratic Party officials already are much more confident as they look toward 2020. They’ve already seen a flurry of interest in candidate recruitment for next cycle, according to party Canada Goose Outlet communications director Manny Garcia. They’ll clearly target GOP Sen. John Cornyn’s seat. canadian goose jacket
Canada Goose online The impact of O’Rourke’s underdog campaign stretches uk canada goose outlet beyond losing by fewer points. His aggressive ground game, anchored by his visits to each of the state’s 254 counties, offered a new model for spurring enthusiasm. He leaves the state party with a healthier infrastructure and a battalion of volunteers who saw their work make Canada Goose Parka an unlikely impact. Canada Goose online
canada goose store And by coming within striking distance of defeating Cruz, lifting a lackluster statewide ticket in the process, O’Rourke demonstrated to donors within the state and beyond that Texas Democrats are worth investing in. canada goose store
Some Democrats in tight races across the country grumbled ahead of Election Day that O’Rourke didn’t spread the more than $70 million in small donations that he amassed for what Canada Goose online was all but sure to be a losing run. But prominent Texas Democrats have complained for years that the national party treats the state like an ATM, descending canada goose clearance sale upon it to gather funds for candidates in swing states.
“On Election Night in 2016, Democrats in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas were making phone calls to Iowa and Ohio” to try t help the party in those states, Garcia said. “I think what that (O’Rourke’s campaign) shows is that if we keep our volunteer capacity here, if Texans talk to Texans and Texas donors fund Texas candidates, we will win this state.”
Of course, what remains to be seen as Texas Democrats move forward is whether others can replicate O’Rourke’s success.
canada goose deals As a bilingual and bicultural cheap Canada Goose border resident, he connected with Hispanic voters on health care, immigration and his support of veterans. Unencumbered by an internal pollster to moderate his commentary, O’Rourke freely ad libbed at his numerous town halls and campaign rallies often going viral when taking on contentious cultural issues, most famously when defending National Football League players who Check Out Your URL Canada Goose Outlet https://www.canadagooseoutlete.com take a knee during the national anthem buy canada goose jacket to protest racial injustices. canada goose deals
Unrelentingly optimistic in canada goose coats the face of polarization, O’Rourke’s greatest struggle was answering Canada Goose Online and leveling attacks against Cruz, a skilled debater and former solicitor general.
canada goose clearance That combination of qualities is unusual. Dallas based Democratic state Rep. Rafael Anchia compared O’Rourke on the stump favorably to the likes of Bill Clinton canada goose store and Barack Obama canada goose clearance.
