Election 2018 Senate Texas
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Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, left, and Democratic opponent U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke shake hands Friday before their first debate in Dallas. The pair have two more scheduled debates before the Nov. 6 election.
Nathan Hunsinger/Dallas Morning News Photo
Though we did not realize it when Ted Cruz ran in 2012 to be the U.S. senator from Texas to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, he was actually in the early stages of a run for the presidency.
For much of the next three years that campaign was how he spent his time. He might as well have been a senator from Iowa, considering how much time he spent in that early caucus state.
What he did not do is represent Texas. He passed no legislation of significance, he did not use his leverage to help Texas and unless there were television cameras around, he was likely to be AWOL and unavailable to real Texans.
We don’t believe he ever thought he would have to run for senator again. He came in second in the presidential primary race against Donald Trump, though.
In the process, he did manage to alienate most of his colleagues, making it even more difficult for him to get much done for Texas.
We want a senator who will work and fight for our state and are convinced Beto O’Rourke of El Paso will do that.
O’Rourke proposes a different kind of leadership, one that doesn’t run away from those across the aisle but genuinely tries to work with them to solve problems.
His experiences outpace Cruz at this stage of their public careers. It is O’Rourke who has run a business, served on local government councils and consistently conducted town hall meetings with his constituents.
While Cruz has made much of O’Rourke’s liberalism, the fact is his ideas are not at all out of the mainstream. He wants to find a path to affordable health care for all, he wants to save the Dreamers and he wants constitutional rights to be available to all Americans.
These ideas are not radical and neither is O’Rourke. He deserves your vote.