Beto O’Rourke has reportedly decided to run for president rather than challenge GOP Sen. John Cornyn, and while that’s disappointing news to Texas Democrats, Team Blue is hardly out of options here. Retired Air Force Col. Kim Olson, who was the Democratic nominee for state agriculture secretary last year, expressed interest just before Thanksgiving, and she told the Huffington Post’s Dana Liebelson this week that she “will run where I can win and best serve Texans.”
Olson lost her race to Republican Sid Miller 51-46 at the same time O’Rourke was losing to Sen. Ted Cruz 51-48. As we wrote back in November, Olson is a retired Air Force colonel who was one of the service's first women pilots, and she handed out packets of wildflower seeds as a campaign calling card to emphasize her roots as a third-generation farmer.
Olson's military career, however, came to an end with a black mark in the mid-2000s when the Pentagon charged her with steering government contracts to a private South African security firm of whose American branch she'd become the director. She ultimately pleaded guilty to two lesser offenses in military proceedings but did not suffer a reduction in rank, and was given an honorable discharge. Olson has been open in discussing her story (she devoted a chapter to it in her memoirs), and it did not feature prominently in her campaign, though of course things could be different in a future race.
Olson isn’t the only potential Democratic candidate.
Rep. Joaquin Castro reportedly has been considering running should O’Rourke pass, and he declined to rule anything out this week. Castro’s identical twin brother, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, is currently running for president, and while some Democratic insiders told the Texas Tribune a few weeks ago that they hoped he might take on Cornyn, he’s shown no interest in doing this. A Julian Castro spokesperson didn’t reply to the Huffington Post’s Liebelson when she asked for comment about the Senate race.
Another possible contender is Wendy Davis, who was Team Blue’s 2014 gubernatorial nominee. Davis said earlier this month that she had not “ruled anything out” and she sounded much more interested this week, saying that if O’Rourke didn’t get in, the Senate race was “something that I would look very seriously at.”
Davis, a former state senator from Fort Worth, made national news in 2013 when she waged a 13-hour filibuster to stop an anti-abortion bill. Davis decided to run for governor the following year, but she had a tough time gaining traction against Republican Greg Abbott, especially during such a hostile climate for Democrats, and she lost 59-39.
MJ Hegar, a 2018 House candidate who made waves last cycle with a viral campaign ad showcasing her inspiring life story as an accomplished military combat pilot, has also expressed interest in running for the Senate. Last year, Hegar challenged GOP Rep. John Carter in Texas’ 31st Congressional District, an ancestrally red seat in the Austin suburbs, and held him to a 51-48 win. Hegar reiterated her interest in a Senate bid this week and also said she could also end up seeking a rematch with Carter.
However, Hegar added that she had made a big financial sacrifice last cycle when she quit her job to run for Congress. Hegar has a new job and said she was saving money so she could afford to run for office in the future, but that she wasn’t “going to hurt my family to do it.”
Hegar also said once again that she didn’t want to take on Davis in a primary because she respected what she’s accomplished. She further said it was also unlikely she’d face either O’Rourke or Castro (it’s not clear which Castro she was talking about), but “that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t” should she feel “like I posed a greater threat to Cornyn” than either of them.
Whomever eventually steps up will face a very tough race against Cornyn in what’s still a red state, but there’s reason to think this contest could once again be competitive. This week, Quinnipiac released a poll that showed Cornyn and O’Rourke tied 47-47 in a hypothetical Senate race. While it doesn’t look like Democrats will be fielding O’Rourke, the poll does indicate that a compelling candidate could give Cornyn a real race.
Want more great elections coverage like this? Sign up for our free daily newsletter, the Morning Digest.
