At a fundraiser this month in Dallas, former Vice President Joe Biden gave Texas Democrats words of encouragement as he hauled in their campaign dollars to spend in other parts of the country.

"I think you're going to turn Texas blue," he told 130 people in Preston Hollow.

Notice he didn't say, "I think we're going to turn Texas blue."

That same weekend, just days after the third Democratic Party presidential debate in Houston, Democratic presidential contenders Beto O'Rourke and Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend mayor, also had cash grabs in Dallas.

There's a lot of talk about Texas being a political battleground that could reshape the nation's political dynamic. If Texas falls to Democrats, the Republican path to the White House would be blocked.

Democrats haven't won a statewide race in Texas since 1994, but there are cracks in the GOP shield.

After a strong 2018 election cycle, Texas Democrats have a chance to add a few seats in Congress next year and hope to seize the state House for the first time since 2003.

But down-ballot races don't elevate Texas to battleground status. A true swing state is a place where the presidential contest is up for grabs.

While Texas Democrats and some Republicans agree that Texas is a battleground, national candidates don't appear to be buying it.

Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, isn't treating Texas differently than previous presidential candidates.

Even with swing state status on the horizon, Texas' most important role is being an ATM for Republicans and Democrats for campaigns outside of the state.

That includes President Donald Trump, who's again expected to get a bundle of campaign cash from Texas, particularly since some of his key fundraisers, like businessman Roy Bailey, live in Dallas.

In 2016 Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Texas by 9 percentage points, a smaller margin of victory here than previous nominees Mitt Romney and John McCain.

Since Republicans can't win the White House without Texas, Trump has a stronger operation here than Romney or McCain.

It's unclear if national Democrats, who don't need Texas to win the White House, will actually spend time and resources in the Lone Star state.

Democratic Presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke speaks at a campaign event at Haggard Park in Plano on Sept. 15, 2019. (Vernon Bryant / Staff Photographer)

For now only O'Rourke, the former congressman from El Paso, has made winning Texas' 38 electoral votes a major part of his campaign pitch. Former housing secretary and San Antonio mayor Julian Castro also believes he can win Texas. And contenders like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren are running close to or beating Trump in various Texas presidential polls.

But there's not a hue and cry nationally to pour serious resources into Texas in order to deliver what would be a knockout punch.

So the action in Texas, at the moment, will be driven by down-ballot races where Democrats are certain they can compete.

The bottom-to-top approach for Democrats makes winning the Texas House the major priority. Beating Trump would be Texas gravy.