In Play
We celebrated my nephew David’s 50th birthday last night at Caracol. The restaurant is in the Galleria area. I sampled chicken enchiladas, guac, fried calamari, sushi, and an array of desserts. Great grub for sure.
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The Cancun Cruz Campaign rolled out an ad this morning featuring Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. In her endorsement of Cancun, Kim disparaged undocumented folks with the use of the disparaging “illegal aliens” words. Unrecognizable. Very sad.
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First thing in the morning I watch the local NBC news affiliate KPRC TV Channel 2 News broadcast. Then I watch “Today.” I have seen a kazillion Cong. Colin Allred Campaign and Cancun ads. I have also seen some Harris-Walz 2024 ads.
I also know firsthand here in Harris County we are doing a lot of work to increase our turnout for the Democratic Party candidates.
Here are a couple of pieces from the Trib and Texas Monthly about Texas and the 2024 election. First from the Trib:
WASHINGTON — Democrats are closing the gap in their uphill campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, with polls showing improvement for Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred and national Democrats’ spending in the race a month ahead of Election Day.
For the first time this race, Allred pulled ahead of Cruz in a statewide poll last month, and he continues to poll within a margin of error with Cruz. National Democrats announced Texas would be included in a multi-million-dollar ad buy last week. Allred is consistently outraising Cruz, bringing in more than $1 million in a day twice in the third quarter.
Allred has also built a bipartisan coalition, securing the support of both his party’s left-wing bigwigs and prominent Republicans who have soured on Cruz. This week, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez both encouraged voters in Texas to turnout for Allred. Former U.S. Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who both were on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, have endorsed Allred.
Independent race ratings groups have taken notice. Cook Political Report shifted its rating for the race from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican” on Tuesday. Inside Elections shifted its rating from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican” last week.
Here is the entire Trib read: Colin Allred narrows gap in Texas Senate bid against Ted Cruz | The Texas Tribune.
Now from Texas Monthly:
The Kamala Harris campaign hasn’t spent money campaigning in Texas this election season. It hasn’t spent much time here, either. Outside of a quick rally in San Antonio with second gentleman Doug Emhoff in late September before a fundraiser, there’ve been no further public campaign events.
The reason for her absence is obvious: History suggests that she hasn’t got much chance of winning here. The last Democrat to claim Texas’s electoral votes was Jimmy Carter, nearly fifty years ago. The idea of a blue—or at least purple—Texas has tantalized national Democrats for at least a decade, but the real measure of how competitive they see the state is in where they’re spending their time and money.
Progressive politicians appear to see it a little differently. This week, Congressman Greg Casar from Austin, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Senator Bernie Sanders—joined at times by Texas Dems’ perpetual ex-boyfriend, Beto O’Rourke—rallied voters at a series of events on the explicit premise that Democrats could finally score a statewide win in November. In front of a majority Gen Z audience at the University of Texas at Austin’s Hogg Auditorium on Tuesday evening, the group laid out a familiar proposition: Texas isn’t a red state but a voter-suppression state, and the power to overcome that rests in the hands of young folks.
Here is all of Texas Monthly: Why Are National Progressives Campaigning in Texas? – Texas Monthly.
Texas Democratic Party candidates up and down the ballot are not afraid of campaigning like Democrats. Texas Democrats aren’t hiding from Sen. Bernie Sanders and AOC. We are proud of the coalition we are putting together. Heck, former Cong. Liz Cheney campaigned with Vice President Kamala Harris in Wisconsin yesterday.
Commentary has said it before. The MAGA GOP has no moral high ground to run on. Their top of the ticket, Doanld Trump, is a convicted felon. Their ticket, Trump and J.D. Vance are serial liars. Democrats on the other hand are running as proud Democrats. We are in a great position. Right now, I would say Texas is in play.
I don’t pay a lot of attention to the current polling in Texas. After the first day of early voting on October 22, we will start knowing who is showing up to vote. That will give us an indication where the election is headed.
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The featured photo is State Sen. Carol Alvarado along with CenterPoint customers on KPRC TV Channel 2 News this morning being interviewed by Investigative/Consumer reporter Amy Davis about tomorrow’s Public Utility Commission hearing that will be held in H-Town.
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Brewers fans took it hard last night as the Mets came back with a three-run dinger to erase a 2-0 Brewers lead in the top of the ninth to advance to the NLDS. I am sure it was a bleak night in Milwaukee.
I really don’t have anything to say about the Astros this morning.
Have a safe weekend.
