It seems that no one who has known Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) really likes him, except maybe his family. Yet, he is extremely bright and a master debater who was on the Princeton and Harvard Law School debate teams. Now, Cruz has finally met his match in fourth generation Texan, Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-TX).
The two men have been in a race for Cruz’ Senate seat. According to the bipartisan 2018 Texas Lyceum Poll, they have been basically running even.
The problem for Cruz has always been that people will get to know the senator too well. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) stood on the Senate floor, and CNN reported that he joked:
‘If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.’
The poll showed Cruz with 41 percent of the Texas voters and O’Rourke with 39 percent. However, that was well within the poll’s margin of error (4.67 +/- percentage points for likely voters).
O’Rourke’s rapid rise has been remarkably surprising. After all, it has been 30 years since Texas elected a Democratic senator. Donald Trump beat out Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election by a full nine points.
Former pollster for Cruz during his 2016 run for president, Chris Wilson tweeted sarcastically about the Texas Lyceum Poll, “Looks nothing like Texas voters:”
‘Looking forward (yes, that’s sarcasm) to the
@TexasLyceum poll coming out this week, since you never know what to expect.’
As if that was not enough, Wilson continued with his tweets criticizing the poll:
‘As the @TexasLyceum political survey drops today, just re-upping my tweet from Monday and posting their partisan breakdown below (which looks nothing like Texas voters).’
O’Rourke brought in an amazing $10.4 million fundraising in his second quarter, according to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). That gave him a total of $14 million.
Cruz just cannot keep up with the younger small businessman, who has served three terms as representative. O’Rourke went on a tour of every county in Texas. Cruz’s campaign only brought in $4.1 million during the same quarter, leaving him with $9.3 million.
O’Rourke went to Muleshoe, population 5,800, to hold a town hall. Democratic nominee for that congressional seat Miguel Levario said, according to The Dallas Morning News:
‘It’s a testament to his message. He wants to represent all people in Texas. He’s willing to make the trip. This is a guy who pulled in $10 million in the last quarter. I don’t think he’s desperate.’
The Texas Lyceum poll interviewed a total of 806 random registered Texas voters and 441 likely voters. The survey occurred between July 9th and 25th. The margin of error was 3.45 +/- percentage points among all registered voters and 4.67 +/- percentage points for likely voters.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been running for another term. So far, he has buried his Democratic opponent, Lupe Valdez, 44 percent to 25 percent among registered voters. For likely voters, Abbott took a 16-point advantage.
The state’s Lt. Governor Dan Patrick has also led his opponent, Mike Collier (D), by a significant advantage, 32 percentage points to 23 percent among registered voters. For likely voters, Patrick led by 10 points.
The Texas Lyceum poll surveyed 806 registered voters across Texas from July 9-25. That includes a subset of 441 likely voters. It had a margin of error of 3.45 +/- percentage points for all registered voters and 4.67 +/- percent for likely voters.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
