TX-SEN: Cruz, O'Rourke rev up post-Labor Day campaigns in battleground Harris County
KATY — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke kicked off their post-Labor Day campaigns Saturday in Harris County, rallying supporters for the two-month home stretch of their race in the state’s biggest, most competitive county.
Cruz made two raucous stops in the Republican-friendly suburbs of Houston, while O’Rourke, an El Paso congressman, staged a massive rally in the city. The events were the first in Texas by Cruz and O’Rourke since Labor Day, the traditional ramp-up time ahead of the November elections.
“Whatever you’re doing do, please do more of it,” O’Rourke told supporters packed in to the Houston Stampede Event Center, a 12-mile drive from where Cruz first campaigned Saturday in the area. “Not a single one of us wants to wake up with anything other than a hangover from celebrating a victory on the 7th of November."
Harris County — home to the state's largest city, Houston — has long been regarded as a battleground in Texas politics, though it swung solidly Democratic in the 2016 presidential election, when Hillary Clinton routed Donald Trump there by 12 points. The county previously delivered much closer margins in statewide elections, including Cruz's 2-point win there over Democratic opponent Paul Sadler in 2012.
“Harris County is a battleground,” Cruz told reporters after an early afternoon stop in Humble, noting he grew up in Houston and currently calls it home. “I love campaigning throughout the state of Texas, but campaigning in Houston is always special.”
As for the county’s pro-Clinton result in 2016, Cruz said it was “clearly a warning sign.”
In Humble, Cruz offered a message tailor-made for Harris County, spending at least the first 10 minutes of his speech recognizing the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Harvey and the area's resilience in the year since the storm battered it. Texans "took a hard hit," Cruz said, "and yet Texans have come back."
O’Rourke also touched on recovery from Harvey at his event, recalling a recent visit to neighborhoods struggling to bounce back from the hurricane a year later. He reminded supporters that “people who have worked their lifetimes to build those homes or to pay the note on the mortgage, who are unable to rebuild right now and are at wits’ end are selling for pennies on the dollar.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/09/08/ted-cruz-beto-orourke-kick-jumpstart-post-labor-day-campaigns-harris-c/?edit=
BETO O'ROURKE
https://betofortexas.com
