Politics in Texas can get pretty nasty. Just last week, Republican state Rep. David Simpson was called soft on terrorists by his primary opponent for his anti-groping legislation aimed at the TSA in Texas airports.
But the most compelling, competitive and heated race in Texas right now is between Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst and former state Solicitor General Ted Cruz. Their battle for the Republican Senate nomination is considered a grand showdown between an established career politician and a Tea Party-backed underdog. The race is likely headed for a runoff, which places Dewhurst at a significant disadvantage considering Cruz’s grassroots appeal.
Dewhurst has made a career out of doing what is palatable rather than standing up on principle, and despite a well- (and largely self-) financed campaign, he is having trouble maintaining support in the face of Cruz’s conservative challenge. This is because Dewhurst’s record as a conservative simply does not match up to Cruz’s. For instance, Dewhurst proposed a “wage tax,” has been described by The Wall Street Journal as a backdoor attempt at instituting and income tax in Texas.
It is said that you can judge a man by the company he keeps, and Ted Cruz keeps pretty conservative company. Cruz has been endorsed by a laundry list of small-government conservatives, including 2008 GOP V.P. nominee Sarah Palin, columnist George Will, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), talk show host Sean Hannity, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and organizations such as FreedomWorks, the Tea Party Express, Young Americans for Liberty and The Club for Growth. Cruz endorses the ideas of limited government and has united the Tea Party and libertarian-leaning Republicans under his banner of strict constitutionalism and smaller government.
Now that being as inoffensive as possible to moderates and undecided voters is proving to be a losing strategy, Dewhurst has taken to flat out lying in attack ads against Cruz. After attempting to conflate the political views of Ted Cruz’s coworkers with Cruz’s own, Dewhurst is now calling Cruz the “Washington Insider” in the race. Cruz’s “Washington Insider” connections consist of liberty-minded Senators Rand Paul and Jim DeMint, and organizations such as the ones listed above.
I, and many other conservatives, will be watching the returns from the polls with great interest on Tuesday night. While achieving 50% of the vote is unlikely, I like Cruz’s chances in a runoff, where voter turnout declines sharply. My parents recently moved from New York to Houston. When I visit them following spring quarter, I will be changing my residency and voter registration to Texas. Republicans of Texas: please give me the opportunity to vote for Ted Cruz in the senate primary runoff by voting for him this Tuesday.
