The Republican Party of Texas is in panic mode.
Shocked by the results of the 2018 midterm elections that saw the GOP lose a record number of seats in the House, and by the close race that saw incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R) almost lose his seat to rising star Beto O’Rourke (D), the Texas GOP is taking steps to fight for their lives in 2020.
According to POLITICO, the Texas Republican Party has massive fundraising goals for next year’s elections. They are now desperately trying to hang on to congressional seats in a former red state that is now seeing huge demographic changes which threaten the GOP’s dominance.
If these trends continue, Texas could soon turn into a blue state, and the mere thought of that is enough to send Texas Republicans into panic mode.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
The POLITICO report said:
“Facing a rapidly changing voter base, anti-Trump fervor and a more motivated Democratic Party, the state GOP is moving earlier than ever to prepare after watching two House members lose in 2018 and another half-dozen win by fewer than 5 points.â€
The report states that the party has deployed staff members to battleground communities months earlier than usual, especially in the suburbs which have turned into swing districts.
“We are taking seriously our need to earn every vote in Texas,†explained Texas Republican Party Chairman James Dickey, adding that donors “are also taking it much more seriously when I tell them how desperately I need them to participate or become a supporter of the party.â€
Of great concern are the districts where GOP members of Congress barely won in 2018. And these are the very districts being targeted by the national Democratic Party.
“The state GOP will be adding organizers in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and even traditionally Democratic El Paso to its early hires,†POLITICO reported. “Those metro areas overlap with the districts of the six House Republicans who won narrowly in 2018: Reps. Michael McCaul, Chip Roy, Pete Olson, Will Hurd, Kenny Marchant, and John Carter.â€
The state GOP is also looking for a massive increase in donations for their planned television blitz. They hope to raise $5 million, double what they raised in 2018.
“Texas Republicans acknowledge that they have to win over voters like women, minorities and others that President Donald Trump has alienated and who are moving to Texas towns,†the report said.
Democrats will compete by bringing the increasingly unpopular Donald Trump into the 2020 campaign.
“Now as we look toward 2020, the DCCC (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) is taking the lessons we learned and expanding the battlefield further into parts of Texas that are ready to reject the kind of reckless Washington politics that Congressmen McCaul, Roy, Olson, Hurd, Marchant and Carter have rubber stamped,†explained DCCC spokesperson Cole Leiter.
All of the GOP members of Congress mentioned by Leiter won their seats in 2018 by less than five percentage points. The truth is that with Donald Trump‘s reckless rhetoric and failed policies, all of them are at risk for losing in 2020.
Texas Republicans have good reason to be in panic mode. The 2020 elections will probably bring another Big Blue Wave to the Lone Star State.
I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.
