Conventional wisdom said that Senator Ted Cruz’ (R-TX) challenger, Representative Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) was close, but that O’Rourke had not ramped up the Hispanic vote. MSNBC’s Chuck Todd said that the representative needed to sign up more Hispanics, but he had not spent the necessary money to do so. Really?
As it turned out, O’Rourke’s genuine enthusiasm and message of hope has hit home — big time. Tom Bonier CEO of TargetSmart, an industry leader in political data and its applications, tweeted that Texas voters under the age of 30 have “increased their turnout by “508 %:”
‘Compared to the same time period in ’14, voters under the age of 30 in Texas have increased their turnout by 508% (not a typo). Voters over the age of 65 in TX increased their turnout by 96%.’
Then, Bonier added that Texas Hispanic voters have increased “214%:”
‘Hispanic voters in Texas have surged in early vote turnout by more than any other race/ethnicity, with a 214% increase. This is compared to a 165% increase among white voters.’
Early voting turnout numbers for O’Rourke’s key constituents have been coming in fast and furious. Conventional wisdom has not taken that into consideration.
One problem for Cruz has been that basically, no one liked him, not even his fellow senators. In a classic move, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) once half-joked, according to CNN:
‘If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.’
O’Rourke did what Cruz has not done. He traveled to every one of Texas’ over 200 counties on a listening tour. People noticed. Should Texans who do not typically vote turn out, the representative could have a real chance of winning on November 6.
Twitter world lit up for O’Rourke. Check out some of our favorites below:
#VOTEBETO pic.twitter.com/9TUv3iBppE
— Vote Nov. 6th (@hansonsc) October 30, 2018
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
