It was over the minute Beto O’Rourke foolishly supported impeaching Trump. Impeachment is unpopular. Impeaching a Republican is very unpopular with Republicans and that’s who Beto needed to slice some votes from. I bet money on him losing as it was near certain. He could have pulled it off but his strategy, that ignored pragmatism, was a sure loser. He’s no JFK or FDR and should have dropped the iconoclast act and just did things the way they’ve been successfully done for decades.
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Texas gets what it deserves.
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I would have to agree on the impeachment portion, it seems like most are not in favor of impeaching Trump. At least most non Democrats. I was reminded last night of the Bubble we find ourselves in sometimes.
He ran as a progressive Democrat. He ran as himself.
Your comments (based on the Politico article you read) suggest he could have won by running as something else, but this is … not self-evidently true.
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I assumed he wouldn’t win. But he’s a great talent and has a long, long future.
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In 2018:
Greg Abbott won 55.8% to 42.5%.
Dan Patrick won 51.3% to 46.5%
Ken Paxton won 50.5% to 47%
Ted Cruz won 50.9% to 48.3%
What this tells me is that Democrats voted for Abbott, Republicans voted against Paxton, and Republicans voted against Cruz.
I suspect Dan Patrick’s race is the closest to straight-party voting results. If so, the Republicans have a pretty slim majority that future demographics don’t favor.
In 2014:
Greg Abbott won 59.3% to 38.9%
Dan Patrick won 58.1% to 38.7%
Ken Paxton won 58.8% to 38%
John Cornyn won 61.6% to 34.4%
For this one, since Paxton wasn’t under indictment, I think he represents straight-party voting.
That means straight-party voting in Texas has changed pretty dramatically.
R = 58.8% to 51.3% (-7.5%)
D = 38% to 46.5% (+8.5%)
That’s a huge increase for people aligning with Democrats. Maybe it’s just people against Trump, maybe it’s not.
I’m genuinely curious to see what happens when Democrats produce serious, electable candidates for state-wide office.
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Americans like creepy retards, look what we put in the White House. Mueller better get on the ball.
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Republicans like abortion, I propose post-natal abortion for Trump. ( Just kidding, Secret Service )
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Well Texass, you proved yet again what a fucked up state you are.
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Beto had huge coattails. The Republican Party got wiped out in the Houston/Harris County area last night.
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And louie Gohmert reeelected with 75% of the votes !
I don’t know what to do other than to like that comment.
It’s not just relatives, either - anyone born to a midwife, and that’s a lot of Hispanic folks in south Texas - have really good reason to not get on that list.
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Wendy Davis did.
I saw her give a speech though, at the Women’s March I think. She was great. But she didn’t do that during her campaign for Governor. I think allowing a politician to be his or her authentic self is a better strategy than sticking to canned, inoffensive positions like she did during the campaign.
Wait - are you criticizing Beto’s branding?
Not from Texas, lol. His branding, if nothing else, was absolutely brilliant.
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I liked the your comment even though I think you took your point too far. Texans respond to (perceived, at least) authenticity, which is one of Trump’s greatest appeals, weirdly enough. Beto could have equivocated on the impeachment issue with a wait and see, it doesn’t look good, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it kind of position. He’s smart enough to have been able to reassure his impeachment-craving base without alarming the wavering GOP voters, while still being true to his position, by emphasizing the procedural necessities.
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Thank you.
They don’t come from nowhere. This is where those state leg and county offices become more and more important. The Texas GOP has been really successful in shutting Democrats out of those “rising star” seats. It’s incredibly important to develop a good bench, and to normalize voting for Democrats. A Democrat running for dogcatcher in Podunk, Texas is actually really important to the cause of electing Democratic Senators and governors.
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You betcha Beto GOTV effort helped down ballot races. Collin Allred kicked Pete Sessions’ butt back to Florida where he actually lives when he isn’t in Washington.
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This times 1000.
Look. If Beto had run the campaign that the DC-elite had wanted (PACS, consultants, pollsters, etc.), he wouldn’t have crisscrossed the state and done the level of retail politicking that he did. If he’d tried the Republican-lite mode that the DNC has pushed for years in a state that they refuse to do any organizing in but are happy to use as an ATM, then the margin of his loss would have been 10 or more points.
Beto had a 1 million vote deficit from rural areas to make up just to get to parity with GOP registration in the state… and he largely did, by changing the electorate.
The Beto-bump helped knock of Sessions, Hurd & Culberson - which decapitates even more of the GOP House leadership. It cost the GOP ALL the down-ballot county-wide positions in Harris County (Houston). And we now have an infrastructure to build on for 2020 in Texas.
And BTW – the DNC’s preferred candidate in the Texas 07 was not Lizzie Fletcher… remember when they tried to smear her out of the primary? She beat Culberson 52-48%.
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Last night Laurence Tribe signed off by saying there were so many irregularities in Texas voting that Beto had not conceded and that a recount/investigation was warranted. Anyone heard from him today?
In the past few weeks, the Cruz, O’Rourke commercials have been running back to back. Here was O’Rourke smiling and appealing to our better selves and then fucking Cruz with his smug fucking face scaring the shit out of anyone who didn’t fast forward. What makes O’Rourke likable is his positive approach. He ran a good, positive campaign. But, no negative ads against a royal piece of shit like Cruz? C’mon, this is Texas. Everyone I know who supported O’Rourke with money, time, and votes, all feared that the strategy would hurt. And it did.