Top nonpartisan political handicapper moves Texas to 'toss-up' in White House race

close

Video

Allen West on 2020 presidential election in Texas: 'We expect a very strong victory'

Republican Party of Texas Chairman Allen West discusses the 2020 presidential election on 'Fox & Friends.'

It’s been nearly half a century since a Democrat won Texas in a presidential election — you’ve got to go back to then-former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter in 1976.

But the Cook Report, a leading nonpartisan political handicapper, on Wednesday moved its presidential race rating of Texas from lean Republican to toss-up.

THESE 9 STATES COULD DECIDE THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The Cook Report’s Amy Walter highlighted that the state is “more competitive than ever.”

“Texas' shift from Lean Republican to Toss Up shouldn't come as a surprise. Recent polling in the state ‒ both public and private ‒ shows a 2-4 point race,” she noted.

The longtime ruby red state has become more competitive in recent years.

President Trump won Texas by nine points in the 2016 election, down from Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s 16-point win over President Obama in the state in 2012. And two years ago, Democrat Rep. Beto O’Rourke – then a congressman from El Paso - came extremely close to knocking off GOP incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in a Senate battle that grabbed national attention.

WILL HOUSE DISTRICTS IN MAINE AND NEBRASKA DETERMINE WHETHER BIDEN OR TRUMP WINS THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION?

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden hasn’t stopped in Texas during the general election, but on Friday running mate Sen. Kamala Harris will make three stops in the state — Fort Worth, McAllen and Houston.

Both the Biden and Trump campaigns have invested in the state, but not to the degree that the shelling out money and resources in the more traditional battlegrounds. On Tuesday, billionaire Mike Bloomberg announced that he’d spend $15 million in the last week to go up with ads on behalf of the former vice president in Texas and Ohio.

Trump’s reelection campaign has repeatedly dismissed the possibility that Texas could flip from red to blue. Rick Perry, the former GOP governor of the state, who served as Energy secretary in the Trump administration, on Sunday told reporters that Texas was “not a battleground state.”