Texas Republicans Sound Alarm: Could Lose State in 2020

Texas Republicans Sound Alarm: Could Lose State in 2020 Top Texas Republicans are sounding the alarm that President Donald Trump could lose the Lone Star State in 2020 unless the necessary resources are devoted keeping it red. GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who is up for re-election next year, has warned that Trump could lose the state. Sen. Ted Cruz’s narrow 2.6 percent win over Democratic challenger Rep. Beto O’Rourke (50.9 to 48.3 percent) in November raised a red flag about the vulnerability of Texas moving into the “D” column. O’Rourke raised a record $80 million in his effort to unseat the incumbent Cruz, who had taken in $37 million during the hotly contested race, the El Paso Times reported. The last time Texas went for a Democrat for president was 1976, when outsider Jimmy Carter defeated Gerald Ford in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. Trump carried the state in 2016 by 10 points, 53 to 43 percent. The Examiner’s David Drucker reported that Trump’s trouble in the state is being fueled by the steady climb of Hispanic voters as well as the move of white suburbia population centers from Republican toward Democrat, particularly among women. O’Rourke carried suburban women 55 to 44 percent, while Cruz won the male vote from those areas 59 to 41 percent. RNC spokeswoman Christiana Purves cautioned not to place too much weight on the midterm results as a predictor for 2020 and promised the GOP will be ready. “Despite tens of millions of dollars pumped into Texas during the 2018 cycle, Democrats still came up short, and 2020 will be no different,” Purves said. “Most importantly, we will never take any state for granted.”