‘When We Win Texas, We Transform This Country for a Generation’
AOC campaigns in the Lone Star State as Republicans lose ground
One of the nation’s most prominent progressives visited Texas, which hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide in decades, as part of a persistent effort to turn the Lone Star State blue.
Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) travelled to Texas recently as Democrats continue to see encouraging signs that the Republicans’ long stranglehold on the state could soon be at an end.
While a Democrat hasn’t won a statewide office since the late Ann Richards was elected governor in 1990, Republicans have seen their election margins slip noticably in recent years.
Donald Trump held Texas in 2020 with 52.1 percent of the vote, roughly the same percentage he carried it with in 2016. Democrat Joe Biden improved on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 vote share by 3.24 points, giving him the largest percentage in the state by a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter carried the state in 1976.
This year, Trump again is leading in the state, but the current Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, has narrowed the gap to 49 percent to 44 percent in a head-to-head match-up amidst a surge in enthusiasm among Texas Democrats.
Some 79 percent of Democrats were either “extremely” (52 percent) or very enthusiastic (27 percent) about voting in the 2024 election, according to a recent public opinion poll.
Texas is the largest state that has reliably voted Republican for president in recent decades. If Democrats were able to effectively flip the state, they would rob Republicans of 40 electoral votes and make it almost impossible for Republicans to credibly mount any hopes to win the presidency under the Electoral College system.
Meanwhile, Republican Sen Ted Cruz is locked in a neck-and-neck race for reelection against Democratic Rep Colin Allred.
That’s after Cruz won six years ago against Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke by just 2.6 percentage points.
“The thing is you now see Democrats smiling. There is joy in our party. There’s electricity moving through the system. And, yes, places that I think were written off are now in contention,” O’Rourke said in an interview this summer. “Three of the most competitive congressional races in the country are in Texas, including Michelle Vallejo’s in Texas 15. We win those, we might win control of the House of Representatives. The biggest pick up opportunity for Senate Democrats is also in Texas. Colin Allred versus Ted Cruz.
“I think Harris-Walz rise or increase the chances that we’re going to be able to win these races. And, you know, who knows? But Joe Biden lost Texas by only 5.5 points in 2020. It’s been moving faster in the blue column than any other battleground state,” O’Rourke added. “Anything I think is possible in this year and with the energy that those two are bringing to this ticket, I think that Texas could possibly be in play.”
New York’s Ocasio-Cortez joined O'Rourke and other Democratic luminaries this week rallying on the campus of Texas State University in San Marcos.
“It is important because when, when we win Texas, when we win Texas we transform this country for a generation — a generation,” she said to cheers and applause from the crowd. “And that is why this state is so deeply important.”
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