Not Again

The relationship of Ted Cruz with pretty much everyone outside of his immediate family is best summarized by the Al Franken quip, "I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz."

He is fundamentally and deeply unlikable. (Also a jinx in sporting competitions, but that is a separate issue.)

This has the potential for making his seat vulnerable in the next election, but for the fact that the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) is attempting to anoint a candidate who cannot even be bothered to campaign in Texas.

I really do not understand how the DC establishment picks these losers: 

In May, Meebs Aslam gave a $10 donation to a political campaign promising to oust one of the nation’s most loathed senators. Colin Allred, then a Democratic congressman from Dallas, had just announced a bid against incumbent Ted Cruz. Aslam, a precinct chair for the Travis County Democratic Party, was initially so enamored by the relatively green House member—“Allred was in the NFL; he’s this really exciting, physically fit, well-spoken, kind person”—that he volunteered to help with invitations for one of Allred’s November fundraisers. There, Aslam said he watched a who’s who of deep-pocketed Democrats and big party figures, including U.S. transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg’s husband, Chasten, schmooze and ultimately donate around $12,000 in total to Allred’s campaign. Allred quickly caught fire and emerged as the front-runner for the party’s nomination.

But over the next month, Aslam attended a handful of events, including the University of Texas at Austin’s University Democrats’ endorsement forum on November 29, and was shocked that Allred wasn’t there. (A surrogate, former state senator Wendy Davis, who endorsed Allred, came in his place.) At the behest of a close friend and fellow political wonk, Aslam went to an event for one of Allred’s opponents, state senator Roland Gutierrez, of San Antonio. This wasn’t the first time Aslam, who also is the finance director for Texas Young Democrats, had heard Gutierrez speak, but the politician’s speech helped convince him to change his mind about whom to support. “The excitement that came in when Colin entered the race started to wane off. It was a pattern of behavior from Colin’s campaign of being quite absent in the field,” he said. “I decided then to support Gutierrez instead.”

………

The difference in campaigns is also apparent from their fundraising efforts: according to quarterly campaign filings with the Federal Ethics Commission, about 65 percent of donations from individuals to Allred’s campaign between April and September came from Texans. Though Gutierrez entered the race slightly later, in July, he raised a lot less since announcing his bid, but received much more of his haul—86 percent—from Texas-based contributors. Allred ended this period with roughly $8 million cash on hand compared with Gutierrez’s $380,000, according to the FEC. And the congressman continues to rake in donations. In a recent email to supporters, he announced that he brought in a whopping $4.8 million in the last quarter of 2023; Gutierrez has until the end of the month to report his fourth-quarter fundraising numbers to the FEC, but his campaign implied in a statement to Texas Monthly that his haul would be smaller. “Voters will decide who is the candidate that can go up against Ted Cruz in this election, not big money or DC elites, and it is going to be the candidate that outworks the rest to earn the trust of the voters,” their statement read.  

Allred isn’t running a new playbook for statewide Democratic campaigns in Texas, and this is not the first statewide race that has become thoroughly nationalized. In 2020, the Democratic Senate primary also featured a state senator, Royce West, of Dallas, running against a much better funded candidate, MJ Hegar, who drew much of her support and her enormous war chest from out of state. Candidates like Allred and Hegar, who can raise lots of money quickly, are preferred by the national party—particularly in seats that aren’t seen as a top priority. Democratic donors and strategists don’t see the Texas Senate race as a prime pickup opportunity, so the Democratic nominee will need to be able to raise money on their own—especially since Texas is one of the most expensive media markets, far outpacing most states with contested races.

So, the  Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) is raising big bucks for someone that they perceive as one of their own, and using it as a justification to support them.

Of course, running a bad media heavy campaign generates more fees for the consultants, so everyone wins, except for the dumb f%$# voters.

Ted Cruz is beatable because he is loathed by almost everyone who encountered him.

During the Bush election theft of 2000, Cruz did what everyone acknowledged was great work for the cause in Florida, but was one of the few people who did not secure a sinecure in the Bush administration, because people just hated him.

This is showing strong indications that we are going to have another fiasco, like the hapless Amy McGrath in 2022 and Alison Lundergan Grimes in 2016.

No one wind but the consultants.