Ted Cruz blasts Beto O'Rourke for supporting the NFL 'take a knee' movement Republican Ted Cruz said Democratic Congressman Beto O'Ourke of El Paso is out of touch with mainstream Texas voters.

John C Moritz Austin Bureau USA TODAY NETWORK | Corpus Christi

Show Caption Hide Caption Texas Senate Race 2018: Ted Cruz The USA TODAY Network-Texas spent time on the Texas Senate race 2018 campaign trail with Republican Ted Cruz. The incumbent is facing off against Democrat Beto O'Rourke.

CORPUS CHRISTI — Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, in a campaign stop Saturday in Corpus Christi, slammed Democratic opponent Beto O’Rourke for siding with the NFL players who’ve chosen to kneel during the national anthem to protest racial injustice.

Speaking before an enthusiastic crowd of about 500 jammed inside downtown music venue The House of Rock, Cruz rejected O’Rourke’s likening the “take a knee” gesture to the actions of civil rights protesters of the 1960s.

“When Beto O’Rourke says he can’t think of anything more American (than players taking a knee), well I got to tell you, I can,” Cruz said to loud applause.

As an example, Cruz noted that service members on military posts around the nation routinely salute the flag and stand at attention whenever the anthem is played.

In what polls suggest could be an unusually close race for a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, Cruz used the NFL controversy to further highlight the contrast between him and O'Rourke, who is giving up a safe El Paso-based congressional seat to challenge the incumbent Republican.

O'Rourke, who is campaigning in Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley this weekend, is seeking to be the first Democrat to win a Senate race in 30 years and the first in his party to win any statewide election since 1994.

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The Democrat provided the opening at a town hall meeting in Houston last week when he was asked if the players who decline to stand for the anthem are disrespectful. O'Rouke said it wasn't and offered several examples of how gestures of protest brought about social change.

"And so non-violently, peacefully, while the eyes of this country are watching these games, they take a knee to bring our attention and our focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it," he said at the Houston event.

"That is why they are doing it. And I can think of nothing more American than to peacefully, standing up, or taking a knee, for your rights, anytime, anywhere, in any place."

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Cruz said such statements by O'Rourke are generating enthusiasm of Democrats and bringing in record campaign donations from left-leaning supporters nationwide. He acknowledged, as he has in campaign stops around the state, that even though he's a Republican incumbent in a Republican state, he'll likely be outraised and outspent by his Democratic foe.

But, Cruz quickly added, that he's focusing his efforts on motivating conservative voters while O'Rourke is "doubling down" on what the Republican called liberal policies outside the Texas mainstream.

O'Rourke was in the Gulf Coast earlier this month and participated in a 30-minute Facebook Live interview with the Caller-Times and the USA Today Network. Cruz was invited to participate in a similar interview on Saturday but his aides said the campaign schedule was too packed.

In his House of Rock speech that included a question and answer session with the audience and lasted more than an hour, Cruz reminded supporters of the tax cut legislation passed by the Republican-controlled Congress and signed by President Donald Trump.

Cruz credited the tax cut and easing of federal regulations on business for a drop in the unemployment rate both nationwide and in Texas.

"Corpus Christi is the number one exporter of crude oil in North America," Cruz said. "It's not complicated. When you cut taxes and loosen regulations, Texas booms."

James T.C. Chadden, wearing a camouflage baseball hat with "Vietnam veteran" emblazoned on the front, asked Cruz what is being done to combat the rate of suicide among former military service members.

"The VA needs a complete and total overhaul," Chadden said. "The VA is pffft."

Cruz agreed, but said changes at the federal agency should improve service. He said veterans should have the option to be treated by the doctors of their choice with the government picking up the tab.

Outside of the House of Rock, a smattering of protesters greeted the Cruz supporters by holding up O'Rourke campaign signs.

"I'm very concerned about what they are doing with our health care system," said Maria S. Olivares of Corpus Christi. "It's now all about business and all about profit. The patients are losing out."

Olivares said she also attended an O'Rourke event at the same venue earlier in the campaign.

House of Rock owner Casey Lain said he's happy to host political figures of all stripes to promote civic engagement.

"We're a venue for everybody," Lain said. "I want people to be educated — on both sides."

Asked if he's taking a side in the Cruz-O'Rourke contest, Lain two-stepped.

"I am going to vote," he smiled. "I can tell you that."

As he was wrapping up his remarks to the audience, Cruz made a direct pitch for campaign volunteers, campaign donations and for his supporters to turn out on Nov. 6.

Michael Bergsma, the chairman of the Nueces County Republican Party, said there's reason for Cruz's concern. O'Rourke, Bergsma said, got off to a faster start on the campaign trail, leaving candidates and grassroots activists are in the unenviable position of playing catchup.

"I can't say everything is hunky-dory, because it's not," Bergsma said. "But we've been block-walking, knocking on doors, making phone calls."

"But," he added as the party in the White House can struggle during mid-term elections, "we are facing a national headwind that we'll have to overcome."

State Rep. Todd Hunter, a Corpus Christi Republican and one of the Legislature's longest-serving members, welcomed Cruz on the stage by praising his efforts to bring federal help to the Texas Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

Cruz, noting the upcoming one-year anniversary of the Category 4 storm that struck Aug. 25, 2017, urged his own supporters to look past partisan interests. Rescue workers, whether they were professional first-responders or citizen volunteers, didn't ask Texans in need whether they were Democrats or Republicans, he said.

"I've never been prouder to be a Texan than in the days and weeks after Hurricane Harvey," Cruz said.