Democrats to Ted Cruz: “Be afraid”
As Donald Trump has circled the drain and threatened to take the entire Republican Party down with him, no one has been laying lower than Senator Ted Cruz. He humiliated himself by endorsing Trump at the last minute during the election, only to end up latching himself to the most bitterly unpopular first-year U.S. President in the history of polling. Now the Democrats have a message for Cruz, and it isn’t a pretty one.
Ted Cruz faces Senate reelection in Texas in 2018. Conventional logic has long been that it’ll be next to impossible for the Democrats to win a statewide election in Texas until the racial demographics there finish their long term trend of shifting blue. But after last night’s shocking victory by Democratic candidate Doug Jones in the U.S. Senate election in Alabama, everything has changed. The landscape has suddenly shifted to the point that Democratic leaders are now openly taunting Ted Cruz on Twitter.
Julián Castro, the former Mayor of San Antonio, tweeted “Be afraid, Ted Cruz. Be very afraid.” The message is clear: the Democrats now think they can compete in every Senate race in 2018, no matter how red the state may be. After pulling off a shocking victory in Alabama, one of the reddest states on the map, they have a point. There may also be more to the Texas Senate race than we know about.
As of now, the Democratic frontrunner in the Senate race in Texas is a guy named Beto O’Rourke. He’s a solid candidate, and he’s well liked among those who have heard of him, but not that many people have heard of him. Many observers expected Julián Castro to run against Ted Cruz in 2018, but thus far he’s shown no intention of doing so. Was last night’s tweet perhaps a sign that he’s now considering throwing his own hat in the ring? Castro hasn’t held office since his time in President Obama’s cabinet came to an end. Some expecting Castro to run for Governor of Texas in 2018 instead.
