Former Republican strategist turned anti-Trump crusader Kurt Bardella flagged an opening for Democrats in Texas — a place they have tried to compete for decades but has always been out of their reach.
This comes as Democratic primary turnout surges in the state, driven by a competitive contest between Dallas-area Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and Austin-area state Rep. James Talarico — and as the GOP primary descends into anarchy.
“You know Texas politics well,” MS NOW’s Jonathan Lemire told Bardella. “There’s a sense here that Cornyn’s in some trouble on the Republican side, and we know the Lone Star State is sort of is the, the white whale, I guess, for Democrats. They feel like, oh, we could do it this time, we could do it. They’ve always fallen short. In fact, in ’24, gave up some of the progress they made in previous cycles. But here we are yet again. Some hope, particularly if there’s a blue wave.”
“Yeah, I live in Dallas and it’s been interesting,” said Bardella. “This has been getting so much chatter and it’s really all over. We’re seeing major turnout at political rallies, enthusiasm that we haven’t seen.” He noted that both Talarico and Crockett are blitzing the state with “packed rallies” and advertisements galore.
Meanwhile, he said, “There’s this feeling with Cornyn and Paxton that Paxton just has this race, you know, lined up. Cornyn has not been able to make a dent on his sizable lead throughout the entire campaign, in spite of some personal issues coming out on Paxton that are negative for someone like Cornyn, who’s been an institution in Texas politics for so long, he’s been an institution in the U.S. Senate, ran the NRSC, to be in this position in a primary and for the president to sit it out, basically and not endorse is pretty telling and revealing about the president thinking he can’t get the job done. Paxton is going to win.”
All of this, he said, adds up to a “perfect storm” for Democrats, if their nominee can run a strong campaign that turns out young and minority voters. “That could be the right recipe to finally capture the white whale and make ground in Texas.”
“And Democrats do realize that no matter what happens in this election, the way that the demographics are going in this country, the way that redistricting is going to happen in 2030, they’re going to have to start competing and invest resources in places like Texas … to try to make ground in areas that they are going to lose ground, they’re going to lose seats in California. Republicans are going to gain seats in Florida after the next reapportionment,” Bardella added.
“They have to start playing in this part of the country,” he said. “So the money spent here, even if they don’t get the job done, they understand they need to start doing the resources here in order to be competitive in future elections as well.”
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