Sen. Ted Cruz warned that if Republicans don’t carry the state of Texas in the 2020 election, the consequences will be devastating for the party in the long term.
“Texas is the single biggest target for the Left in 2020, politically speaking,” Cruz said on Sunday. “Texas is the key for national domination for years to come. If Democrats win Texas, it’s all over.”
Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas since the early 1990s. A Democratic candidate for president has not won Texas since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Carrying 38 Electoral College votes, Texas is seen as a critical must-win state for any Republican candidate for president.
President Trump currently leads presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden by an average of 0.2%, according to RealClearPolitics.
“It’s competitive, but I’m not predicting Biden will win,” John Weaver, a Texas-based Republican and a member of anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project, told the Texas Tribune. “Trump will have to spend a ton of money and come down here several times. And the Texas House is gettable for Democrats and probably two to four congressional seats.”
The Trump campaign said it is taking nothing for granted in the increasingly purple Lone Star State.
“We are doing our due diligence that we are leaving no stone unturned ahead of November, and we remain very confident that Texas will remain in Republican hands,” spokeswoman Samantha Cotten told the Texas Tribune. “We share our information. We share our data through the RNC. We’re not just helping President Trump but Republicans up and down the ballot.”
Biden has been endorsed by former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat who nearly defeated Cruz in a Senate race in 2018.
“It’s sending a message,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa told Politico of Biden’s rise in Texas. “The message is that the Biden campaign recognizes that Texas is a state that is different now, that they see it as a battleground and intend to make a play for Texas.”
The Biden campaign launched an ad campaign in Texas this month that focused on the rising coronavirus cases in the state and Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
After challenging Trump for the Republican nomination in 2016, Cruz has been one of the president’s most vocal supporters in Congress, attacking his political enemies and campaigning for him at fundraisers and on cable news.
“We’re at a crossroads. The future of our country and the American dream are very much at stake in 2020,” Cruz said. “In Texas, the stakes are especially high … if we don’t win Texas, and we don’t win the White House, we lose control of Washington. We lose the precious freedoms that Texans, and all Americans, that we believe in, such as the right to free speech, to peacefully express our views.”
