Once again, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is in a very tight Senate race for Texas.
Cruz is not happy with the party's support. He recently blasted Senator McConnell (R-KY) for not pitching in to help his campaign.
Talking Points…
- Texas by the numbers
- Cruz goes nuclear on McConnell
- Analysis
With all of the transients in Texas, each year, the state becomes a little more difficult for Republicans to win. Cruz also faces the challenge of not being very well-liked. Some think he is too over the top with his faith; others believe he is too arrogant, while others are upset with how he cowered to Trump after the 2016 election, allowing Trump to brutally insult his wife, then buddying up to Trump after the primary election.
In his last election, Cruz was taken to the wire by Beto O'Rourke, a man who is despised in conservative circles. I can still remember Beto showing up at a gun show when I was in Arkansas, as well as the looks and comments that were made. If I recall, Beto showed one person who was civil with him at the show, but I can tell you firsthand that he did not get a very warm reception, yet he almost took down Cruz. Now Cruz is up against Rep. Collin Allred, a Dallas native who played football for Baylor, then played five seasons in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans. Allred represents Dallas County, serving TX-32.
Cruz, at one point, had a double-digit lead against Allred, but money is pouring in from all over the country to support Allred, and Cruz is running on fumes at this point. Cruz's lead was down to three points in the latest Marist College poll. In the latest University of Houston poll, Cruz held a four-point lead. Trump is also underperforming in Texas, holding only a five-point lead over Harris.
Do I think Cruz is in danger of losing his seat? No, but I am not exactly comfortable, either. A nice bump in advertising and a better presence, especially in the Dallas area, would be nice, but we are not seeing that. I live just outside of Dallas in Grapevine, and I can tell you that Allred is all over the place, and his ads are on TV nonstop. I have not seen Cruz yet in this election, and if I see one or two ads a day from his campaign, it is a lot.
Because of all the outside money helping Allred, Cruz needs help if he is going to continue to fight off this challenge, but McConnell's PAC is stiffing him. Cruz recently sat down with Mark Levin to discuss the challenges he is facing during this election. He stated:
"McConnell runs the largest Republican super PAC in the country and has $400 million but that super PAC is used to reward the Republican senators who obey him and to punish those who dare to stand up to him."
Technically, McConnell cannot direct the funds, but his allies are in charge of PAC distribution. Cruz has been very critical of McConnell since Trump was in office, often parroting Trump's complaints about McConnell (for the record, I agree with Cruz on these points), so the PAC is apparently ignoring Cruz out of spite. This has led to Allred gaining ground, with the Cook Political Report downgrading the seat to now "leaning Republican. Cruz continued:
"[Democrats] have been running attack ads nonstop. I just got up on TV three weeks ago. Now it's not that I didn't want to be on TV three months ago. We didn't have the money. We're being massively outspent.
"Poll after poll show this race as a one-point race or a two-point race or a three-point race. There are two public polls that have come out that show me losing. It is an incredibly close race."
We saw the results of these power plays by McConnell over the last two elections, which cost the GOP the Senate. McConnell's role as Senate leader during an election is to support the primary winner, regardless of whether he personally supports that person or not. The voters in that state have spoken, and it is his job to make sure they win. This is just another failure, one of many, and exactly why McConnell needs to go as Senate leader.
I want to make another point because this is a real sore spot for me. I despise the fact that money outside of the state is permitted to come into play in these elections. It's a Texas seat, so why can people from California and New York contribute to a candidate who has nothing to do with them? This is one of the biggest failures of our political system. City elections should have city money, state elections should have state money, and, in my opinion, the only election that should be able to collect donations from all states is the presidential election. Allow the people who live in these cities and states to pick the winters, not rich people in other states or massive PACs collecting money from across the country.
