Sen. Ted Cruz warns presidential race is a real contest in Texas
The media have done a very good job frightening female suburban voters, says Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, warned in a recent video for "The Hill" that Democrats are pouring resources into flipping the Lone Star State blue for the first time since Jimmy Carter won the White House, but told Fox News on Monday that it is not for the reasons that the media and others portray.
In his video, Cruz noted that Texas has 38 electoral votes and Sen. John Cornyn's, R-Texas, U.S. Senate seat up for grabs in November: "If the Democrats win Texas, it's all over."
Cruz told "The Story" that while the media portrays Texas' changing racial demographics as the reason for it grabbing Democrats' attention, it is really more a socioeconomic shift.
He said that middle-class and suburban women are moving away from President Trump, pointing to Georgia and Texas specifically as locations with high concentrations of that demographic.
"If you look at what is happening nationally, there are two broad demographic trends going on nationally, blue-collar workers, union members are moving right, and that is moving midwestern states more Republican, states like Ohio and Michigan and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, every one of which went for Donald Trump in 2016 -- at the same time we are seeing suburban voters, in particular suburban women who are moving left," said Cruz.
"And that's a real challenge, because with a state like Texas, we know that New York and California are bright blue for the foreseeable future. If Texas joins them, that's the entire election. We can't let that happen."
He said that former Vice President Joe Biden's new ad in Texas on the subject of the coronavirus was effective, adding however, that the Delaware Democrat's "soft focus" message is a compelling yet dangerous one.
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"Nobody started this year on new year's day predicting a global pandemic, the Great Depression, and race riots. It's horrific what is happening to our country. And Biden and the Democrats are very smartly trying to capitalize on it. And what Biden is doing in soft focus is harking back to a calmer, peaceful time," he said.
"That is a dangerous message," Cruz continued. "That is a compelling message and I think that it is important if this election focuses on issues, and focuses on substance, focusing on a contrast between free enterprise and socialism, and a contrast between the Constitution and Bill of Rights and rule of law versus anarchy and violence, we win it -- but if it is a personality contest, that's what the Democrats want it to be because they think that wins the election."
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