Dem Castro weighs challenge to Cruz

[Jose Garcia]

Source: The Hill

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) says he'll decide by the spring whether to challenge Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) in 2018.

“I said I’ll take a look at it, and I will,” said Castro Wednesday at a Buzzfeed Brews event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. “I want to make a decision by the end of spring.

"Obviously if you want to run in Texas, it’s a large state and you need a lot of money and a lot of time to mount a serious campaign,” he told Buzzfeed's Tarini Parti.

When first asked about Cruz, Castro had joked that his stomach was "going to be in knots."

Read more: http://www.thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/316257-dem-castro-weighs-challenge-to-cruz

[TexasTowelie]

1. Beto O'Rourke who is the representative from El Paso is also considering a run against Cruz.

Either would be a good opponent against Cruz.

[nycbos]

2. Texans are crazy.

Last edited Thu Jan 26, 2017, 02:05 PM - Edit history (1)

A sane rational person like Mr. Castro won't have a chance.

[cannabis_flower]

9. Please don't insult

All the good Democrats in Houston, Austin, Dallas and San Antonio. We are majority the majority here. Too bad there are so many crazy rural and small town Texans.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. I wish him luck

In what was normal before last week, I't say that Joaquin would probably lose.

But things are likely to be very different in 2018. I suspect that Texas Republicans are going to be demoralized in ways they haven't been in years--Cruz's ties with Trump, Medicare gone, Social Security butchered, the ACA obliterated, and there will be a lot of anguish and remorse on the right and anger in the center and the left. Leaving your base dead or financially ruined is not the way to romp to electoral victory.

And Trump's and Bannon's Latino-bashing won't help. Leaving DACA and the Dreamers aside, I believe that even some of the inattentive and detached Latino non-voters might FINALLY start interpreting right-wing speak that conflates Latino immigrants with folks whose families have been in Texas for generations. And in a state where about 40 percent of the population is Latino, what plays well in Whitebread states like Iowa, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Wisconsin while Dubya was in office won't play so well down in Texas when Americanized Texas Latinos get a dose of what it was like in great-grandma's day.

Of course this would require a major change in Latino non-voters' behavior--from turning away from politics when race-baiters start baiting to mobbing the polls their registration cards to throw the bums out, a behavior that has not been seen in recent decades here.

[karynnj]

4. Interesting analysis

I wonder if in addition, with Trump in the WH, we actually may have the greater anger at what is happening and that that might change who comes out to vote. (That might be an underlying reason that in most off years the President's party loses seats. There are exceptions - like 2002, but that was in teh wake of 911.)

[MBS]

5. In his Jan 22 oped, EJ Dionne wrote:

If power shifted decisively Friday to Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress, passion switched sides as well. As the marches showed, the political energy in the country is now arrayed against Trump and his agenda.

Republicans no longer have Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to kick around. For years, they were able to direct the country’s discontents toward a president they loathed and then a Democratic nominee they disliked even more.

With control of both elected branches, the GOP, including Trump, is the establishment. Over time, this will make the faux populist anti-establishment appeal of Trump’s inaugural address ring empty.

I think we're got a REAL chance in 2018, if we can direct that passion into an effective and sustained strategy. Please, Democrats, let's have our act together.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-the-power-now-but-his-opponents-have-the-passion/2017/01/20/62e73fe2-df58-11e6-acdf-14da832ae861_story.html?utm_term=.496abfbde135

[karynnj]

6. Thanks - he is someone I respect more than almost any other journalist

Let's hope that even he will be surprised by how much that tide has turned. If the degree of anger is related to the complete outrageousness of the cause -- it should be historic!

[Vogon_Glory]

7. Another factor is that every year more Texas Latinos turn 18

As I posted earlier, Latinos make up about 40 percent of the population of Texas. That didn't matter so much while Slick Rick Perry was Governor, many of them were in the toddlers-to-re-teen age bracket.

The problem for the Rethugs is that these kiddies are older now. Eighteenth birthday, American-born and all that. Also, while Texas Afro-Americans tend to live in segregated neighborhoods, Texas Latinos are a bit more spread out. Even omitting East and South Asians, Texas suburbs aren't as Whitebread as they were when I was a kid.

A lot of the Texas Rethug success has been due to to the Texas GOP not letting their Latino-bashing go as far as in other, whiter states (Although it's here, too). But with the rise of the Tea Party and the success of hardline immigrant-bashing in safely Republican districts, the Texas GOP may be forgetting some of the reasons for its previous electoral success.

It was easy for the Texas Republicans to push their agenda without channeling Chris Kobach, but they've decided to quaff the big T-branded Koolaid.

I like to think that there will be consequences next time around.

[hamsterjill]

8. He'll have my vote.

n/t