National Dems target Texas, but focus remains on protecting Senate incumbents

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WASHINGTON — Texas’ senate race is not the priority for national Democrats who face a difficult map this year, but they still see promising signs of a flip in the state, Democratic Senate Campaign Committee Chair Gary Peters said Tuesday.

"To be candid, my number one priority is to bring back all of the incumbents," Peters said when asked how important Texas is for the Democratic fundraising and organizing group. “But we also want to go on the offense, and the offense is going to be very important. And right now our focus is Texas and Florida. Both of them are very real.”

U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz this November. It’s Cruz’s first challenge since his close 2018 reelection where former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke came within 3 percentage points of beating him.

The DSCC showed early interest in the race when it included Texas in its $79 million ad reservation last spring and funded staffers to work in Texas tracking Cruz. The DSCC named Texas and Florida as its top flip opportunities this cycle.

A DSCC aide declined to say what other investments the group would make or how much of the spring ad reservation was going to Texas, though Politico reported a seven-figure amount would go to the state. The Senate Majority PAC, an independent super PAC linked to Senate Democratic Leadership, has not yet announced any investments in the state.

“We're committed. We have investments we're making on the ground,” Peters said. “It's very real. Ted Cruz did not win his last race by very much. It showed that he was vulnerable.”

But flipping any seats has always been second place to Democrats’ uphill battle to keep its current majority. Democrats have a one-seat majority, with several incumbents up for reelection in otherwise red or purple states.

Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Jon Tester of Montana and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania are all up for reelection. Democrats in Michigan, Arizona and West Virginia are running to replace retiring Democrats or independent Senators who caucus with Democrats.

Meanwhile, every Republican up for reelection this cycle is in a comfortably red state, except for Cruz and Florida’s Sen. Rick Scott.

Peters said there are signs to stay optimistic about Texas. Cruz’s national fame as a right-wing celebrity could be a vulnerability for Republicans, he said.

“Ted Cruz has very high name recognition. He also has very high negatives,” Peters said. “High name recognition with high negatives is not a strength, and it's a weakness that Colin Allred is going to be able to exploit.”

Peters said Allred will need to work for greater name recognition in the state. He defended Allred’s understated campaign strategy prioritizing ad buys across the state, which has garnered pushback from some Democrats who hoped he would recreate O’Rourke’s 2018 barnstorming campaign where he held rallies and town halls in every county.

Allred has placed ads in the state’s biggest markets — North Texas, Houston, San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley. Houston and North Texas are among the most expensive media markets in the country. Allred’s campaign declined to say how much it has spent on ads, but ad-tracking firm AdImpact reported the campaign spent $21.7 million on aired ads as of late August.

“He has to get his name out. He's not as well known as Ted Cruz. The most efficient way to do that is going to be through media, whether electronic, digital, however, you're going to get that out. He has to do that in a very, very large state,” Peters said. “But that doesn't mean you don't do ground as well. You still do both, because every single vote is going to matter, particularly in Texas.”

Peters also said he was happy with Allred’s fundraising numbers, which he said illustrated Allred’s strength. Allred raised $38.1 million through the end of the second quarter of this year to Cruz’s $23.4 million. That doesn’t include the candidates’ affiliated political action committees, which would bring the total up to $40 million for Cruz and $41.2 million for Allred.

Allred’s campaign is running largely independently of his national counterparts. Texas Democrats don’t expect investment from the presidential campaign, considering its short runway and laser focus on the most obtainable battleground states. Texas Democrats launched a coordinated campaign with Allred at the top of the ticket to bundle resources down ballot.

“Texans are sick and tired of Ted Cruz taking things too far and hurting Texas families, like the extreme abortion ban forcing Texas women to flee our state, or voting to raise the retirement age for hard-working Texas seniors," Allred campaign manager Paige Hutchinson said in a statement. "Congressman Allred has built a campaign to win, and we’re not taking our foot off the gas.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP counterpart to the DSCC, is working closely with Cruz, who is one of the party's biggest fundraisers. The group cast Allred as "hiding in his basement" instead of campaigning.

"But no matter how much cash liberal billionaires pour into Texas, the NRSC will do whatever it takes to make sure Ted Cruz has what he needs to beat back Chuck Schumer’s hand-picked candidate in Colin Allred," NRSC spokesperson Philip Letsou said in a statement.

Allred made 50 visits to 22 cities for his campaign last month.

Cruz has warned his fellow Republicans that he is public enemy No. 1 on the left behind former President Donald Trump and that the Texas Senate race is likely to attract millions in donations from liberal donors outside of the state.

Cruz and O’Rourke spent over $93 million in 2018, the most ever spent in a U.S. Senate race at the time. Cruz predicts this year’s race to be upwards of $100 million.

“If you are a left-wing partisan Democrat … after Donald Trump, there is nobody in the country you want to beat more than me,” Cruz told Texans at the Republican National Convention. “And so every crazy wild eyed leftist in New York City or Chicago or San Francisco, they go online and they give to whoever's running against me. By the way, I'm kind of proud of that.”

Disclosure: Politico has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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