Opinion

O’Rourke support the real thing

Beto O'Rourke speaks during a recent town hall in Denton. He is talking to voters across the Lone Star State, not just the metropolitan areas, almost all of which have become solidly Democratic; and based on polling, his strategy is working. less Beto O'Rourke speaks during a recent town hall in Denton. He is talking to voters across the Lone Star State, not just the metropolitan areas, almost all of which have become solidly Democratic; and based on ... more Photo: Jake King /Associated Press Photo: Jake King /Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close O’Rourke support the real thing 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

In a recent commentary in the Houston Chronicle (“The NYT doesn't know barbacoa mixta ...; Nor does its columnist get Texas voters”), writer Roy Reynolds tries to paint the groundswell of support for Beto O’Rourke as a façade invented by East Coast liberals. By every metric, that’s simply false.

I’m a native Texan, and this November, I’ll be voting for Congressman Beto O’Rourke as our next U.S. senator. I won’t be alone in casting my ballot for O’Rourke.

In a recent poll on the Senate race, conducted by the pollsters at Quinnipiac University, Texas voters narrowly preferred incumbent Ted Cruz to O’Rourke, 47 percent to 44 percent. Earlier polls commissioned by O’Rourke-allied organizations also indicated only a single-digit gap in support between the candidates.

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O’Rourke is campaigning in a way that no statewide candidate, Democratic or Republican, has in recent memory: holding town halls in more than 200 of our 254 counties and showing up where no other politician has bothered to visit.

Last month, O’Rourke campaigned at Texas Tech in Lubbock. In February, he stopped by heavily blue McAllen along the border and the less-friendly Kerrville in the Hill Country. He’s even visited Alpine in the heart of the Big Bend area, not once but twice. O’Rourke is talking to voters across the Lone Star State, not just the metropolitan areas, almost all of which have become solidly Democratic, and based on polling, his strategy is working.

There are more than five months of campaigning to go until the November election, and with O’Rourke on a trajectory to victory, he has the resources to keep it up. Last FEC reporting period, O’Rourke’s campaign raised over $6.7 million, 70 percent of which came from Texas, more than double that of Cruz’s campaign, eliminating the incumbent’s prior cash-on-hand advantage.

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This isn’t a sugarplum dream, as Reynolds suggests. It’s a highly organized and effective campaign that is winning the hearts and minds of Texas voters ready for a change. O’Rourke has a real shot at being elected to the Senate, and he’s pulling other Democrats at every level of government along with him.

Strong Democrats are running for office in every Texas congressional district, a feat for a party with a losing streak, and top candidates are receiving significant institutional support. In the 32nd Congressional District, Colin Allred has been listed as one of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s top candidates for 2018, and in the 23rd and 7th Districts, national progressive organizations, including EMILY’s List and Our Revolution, are backing their own candidates to take on Republican incumbents. In all three of those districts, the results of the 2016 election and recent polls are demonstrating real Democratic momentum.

Writing off these House races and the Senate race as unwinnable for Democrats isn’t logical or reflective of the Texas electorate, as Reynolds would have you believe. Texas Democrats, for once, have the right candidates, the right strategies and the right political environment to mount a comeback and win even the historically red statewide races this year.

Lincoln Dow is the political director for Texas Students United, a student-led political action committee working to strengthen education and defend equality for all scholars. He studies at St. John’s School in Houston.