Pulling off such an upset would require a uniquely talented politician running an almost perfect campaign. That candidate would need to display discipline, calm and poise. Be telegenic and quick on the feet. The candidate would need to be thoroughly Texan and have an identity infused with elements of the state's cultural zeitgeist. The person would need to run in a halfway decent national political environment. And even with all of those boxes checked, that rare Democrat would still need to square off against an extraordinarily disliked Republican running a lackluster campaign without much support from the person's own colleagues.
Enter: Rep. Colin Allred.
Allred's remarkable debate performance Tuesday spawned a flurry of Instagram slides, TikTok videos and X posts. Both in Texas and nationwide, news feeds have been flush this week with clips of the former professional football player rebuking Sen. Ted Cruz for hiding in a "supply closet" during the attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol --- a riot by a mob that Cruz himself helped whip up. Others showed him repeatedly referencing the time Cruz flew to Cancun, Mexico, as hundreds of Texans died during the middle of a winter freeze, or hammering him on his abortion stance --- an issue critical to white female voters who have been abandoning the GOPin droves.
But an impressive debate performance alone is not enough for a Democrat to win a state like Texas. However, polls, fundraising and a changing political climate have all looked promising for Allred. Today, Texas Democrats are in an extraordinary situation, one that has proved elusive over the past three decades: They have an actual chance of winning a statewide race.
Schilling, a registered Republican from Collier County, helped to expose the $1.7 billion Medicare fraud at Columbia/HCA that brought down several executives and forced Scott's resignation from the mammoth hospital chain he built.
No he didn't, there was at least one guard taking care of the animal. Don't make shit up. you're sensationalizing a situation to create a narrative that isn't true. He's bad enough based on the truth. Don't give the opposition ammunition.
A lot of Republican cans hate Ted Cruz here in Texas. They can't stand him. They think he's an ass.
But he's a Republican and that's all they fucking see in that booth.
Look at who is in office.
The governor, the Lt. governor, the state AG. They are ALL really terrible people, doing really terrible things. And the Republicans here don't give a shit.
The problem is getting the left to fucking vote.
And that cunt, Kim Ogg in Houston, endorsed Ted Cruz. (Side note, there's something rotten in Houston right now though and I have no idea what's going on. I have NO idea who to trust anymore.)
I really don't get how Texans can vote for a Canadian that changed their name? Don't they hate non-americans and people that transition? Why don't Democrats rub it in that he's "not American" and that his real name is Rafael. I feel like he would've been old news if any dem did that 12 years ago?
Beto likely lost because he said the stupidest shit that a dem running in Texas could have said ("we will take your guns!") and it killed his campaign momentum. And even then, he only lost by 2-3%.
To my knowledge, Allred hasn't shot himself in the foot like that, so there is a real chance for him to win.
Get your facts straight. Beto did not speak about gun control during his Senate campaign.
The year after he lost the Senate race to Cruz, Beto briefly campaigned for POTUS. It was during his presidential campaign that he brought up removing AR-15s and spoke about gun buyback programs.
Speaking about guns did not cost Beto the Texas Senate race because Beto is not a time traveler.
You must have watched a different debate than I did. Despite knowing that every word out of Cruz was a disgusting lie, Cruz kicked his ass through the entire debate. Allred's performance was a textbook example of exactly why establishment Democrats frequently lose what should be easy races.
Cruz might still be hated enough to lose, but not because of that debate. I finished watching the debate and thought "thank God nobody watches Senatorial debates!"
The reason democrats never win here is because they are too stupid to understand their primary function is to represent their constituents. All we need is a democrat that understands you can’t run a campaign in Texas where you say out loud you will take away people’s guns.
This is patently false. Beto never spoke about guns during his Texas Senate campaign. There were only gun-loving conspiracy rumors about Beto “taking your guns”.
He spoke out about gun buyback programs and AR-15s in 2019, during his brief presidential campaign, the year AFTER he lost to Cruz.
Texas chose Ted Cruz over Beto O’Rourke before he ever spoke about guns.
Look i understand the need for gun reform but it’s not gonna happen like it did in Australia where they rounded up all the guns within a few days. And you certainly can’t run the platform on “Hell yes I’m taking your guns away”. There is no point in playing semantics and saying “we’ll he never said gun he said AR15.” To the gun nuts it’s all the same. All he had to say was there needs to be a change.