Against all odds: Democrats pour money into longshot races
HOUSTON (AP) Thara Narasimhan, who hosts an Hindu radio program in Houston, has already given $1,200 to a Democrat running against Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, who once drove around his solidly conservative Texas district with a "NEVER HILLARY" bumper sticker on his pickup. Her plans to donate even more bewilder friends.
"It's not the question of why I have to support a failing candidate," said Narasimhan, mingling at a fundraiser for Democrat Sri Kulkarni on a sweltering Texas summer night. "Unless you put some faith in it, you're not going to make it work."
The November midterms are on pace to shatter records for political spending. While more than $1 billion raised so far nationally is helping finance battlegrounds that are poised to decide control of Congress, restless donors aren't stopping there they're also putting cash into races and places they never have before to help underdog Democrats.
Examples include: a district home to the Dallas Cowboys' stadium and held by the GOP since 1983; the South Carolina district of outgoing U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford; and a reliably Republican Southern California district that President Donald Trump won by 15 points.
Read more: https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/texas/article/Against-all-odds-Democrats-pour-money-into-13150091.php