Democrats in deep-red Texas may be getting “an unexpected election-year lift” from the one-two punch of the Covid-19 virus pandemic and the collapse of the global oil market, reports Politico.
“Republicans who’d been running on a familiar platform of gangbusters job growth and small government suddenly find themselves without a clear message as unemployment skyrockets and plummeting oil prices ravage the state budget,” the political website says.
“More than a dozen Texas politicians and strategists told Politico that fallout from the virus could hasten the state’s drift away from Republicans” at least in part because of “demographic shifts in burgeoning areas repelled by President Donald Trump.”
Among those strategists is Austin-based Republican Brendan Steinhauser, who says the pandemic “has put Republicans in a tough position … having to swallow bitter pills.”
Top-of-the-ticket Democrats are not likely to benefit much from the health and economic turmoil, but less-prominent candidates might.
“Democrats are targeting seven U.S. House seats and defending two, mostly in the suburbs of the largest cities: Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso and Fort Worth,” Politico says, adding that the party only needs to flip nine seats to win a majority in the state House of Representatives.
In an interview, former congressman and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke sharply criticized Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for his handling of the Covid-19 crisis.
“That’s really going to affect a lot of what you see in November up the ballot,” O’Rourke said, noting that there are “38 Electoral College votes on the line for [Joe] Biden or Trump and down the ballot for these statehouse races.”
“People are horrified at Republican leadership right now,” he added.
