I just love it anytime he’s a punching bag:
The Dallas Morning News‘ editorial board chose not to endorse Ted Cruz in the upcoming Republican primary, instead telling voters to cast ballots for a 37-year-old Houston energy lawyer.
The board cited Cruz’s few legislative wins, infamous unpopularity in Washington, and his decision this week to vote against opening bipartisan debate over immigration as reasons to vote for his competitor, Stefano de Stefano, one of five candidates vying to clinch the Republican nomination on March 6.
The Morning News wrote:
Our senator has made few allies, even among Republicans in the Senate. He has a thin legislative record to show for it, though he has been more focused since the end of his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. This shift toward productive results enabled him to push for billions in Hurricane Harvey relief for Texas and steer a bipartisan NASA authorization bill to passage. Texas would be well served if it saw more of that work from its junior senator.
Cruz’s elbows have been so sharp and his disdain for deal-making so pronounced, that he’s often stymied his own party’s agenda. In 2013, he helped shut down the government to protest the Affordable Care Act. Even fellow GOP senators criticized the effort as grandstanding. Upset over a setback over the Export-Import Bank in 2015, he called the Senate’s Republican leader a liar, poisoning prospects for progress.
You can read the whole Dallas Morning News article here.
I can’t blame the newspaper. Nobody fucking likes Ted Cruz, not even members of his own party who he likes to go after:
The old Ted Cruz reemerged Thursday as he castigated his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate for even considering renewing and expanding anti-deportation protections for Dreamers—children of undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country in violation of immigration laws.
During his first years representing Texas in the Senate, Cruz often attacked the Republican leadership as the “Washington cartel.” Since losing his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Cruz has been portraying himself as Ted Cruz 2.0, a kinder gentler politician who often voted with his party’s leadership. But as the Senate started to debate proposals to provide deportation protections to young immigrants who have been raised in this country, the beta version of Cruz returned. “I find myself flabbergasted with my own party in this debate,” Cruz said in a speech from the Senate floor.
Cruz said giving deportation protections and a path to citizenship to some immigrants was nothing more than a repeat of the amnesty program given to three million immigrants in the late 1980s. Because the federal government did not secure the border, he said, the number of people living in the country without having immigrated legally now exceeds twelve million. “I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, waking up reliving the same day over and over and over again.”
Cruz has been a hardliner against President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, more commonly known as DACA. During his 2016 run for president, Cruz told one Dreamer that he would deport her because she is living in the country illegally. “If you’re a DACA recipient it means that you were brought here illegally, and violating the laws has consequences.”
And here’s another example of how awful of an asshole he is:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) accused Democrats on Thursday of seizing on mass shootings to push a political agenda, saying that calling for increased gun control after such tragedies is "not the right answer."
"The reaction of Democrats to any tragedy is to try to politicize it," Cruz said on "Fox & Friends." "So they immediately start calling that we've got to take away the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. That's not the right answer."
The Texas Republican recalled travelling to Sutherland Springs, Texas, after a deadly mass shooting at a church there last year.
"When I was at the hospital with the victims, with the victims' families, over and over again what they said to me in Texas – they said gun control is not the answer here," Cruz said.
Cruz's comments came a day after a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., killing 17 people.
In the Democratic Primary, the Dallas Morning News did endorse Cruz’s likeliest opponent, Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D. TX):
A third-term representative from military-driven El Paso, the 45-year-old O'Rourke has negotiated to secure legislation that, among its highlights, expands mental health care for vets and provides mental wellness screenings to separating service members.
Coming from a family of small-business owners, O'Rourke — unlike so many Democratic office-seekers in Texas — has connections in entrepreneurial and commercial communities. As the founder of a modest tech firm, he knows what it means to meet a payroll and understands the importance of access to capital.
O'Rourke's Senate campaign — he's vowed to hold town halls in all 254 counties — reflects his impressive and long-standing record of accessibility and accountability as a public servant.
Beto is also making bank through the grassroots organization:
U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, announced Friday that he raised over $2.2 million for his U.S. Senate campaign in the first 45 days of 2018.
The massive haul is almost as much as O'Rourke raked in during the previous, twice-as-long period — the fourth quarter of 2017. O'Rourke easily outraised U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during that 92-day stretch, $2.4 million to $1.9 million.
Cruz has maintained an advantage over O'Rourke in money in the bank, though the gap has been narrowing. O'Rourke did not release his latest cash-on-hand figure Friday, but after the fourth quarter, it was $4.6 million to Cruz's $7.3 million.
O'Rourke, who is not accepting contributions from political action committees, said Friday that the $2.2 million total came from over 43,000 donations.
And he’s picking up big endorsements:
The political arm of the Texas AFL-CIO announced on Friday it will be supporting U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, in his bid for U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s seat.
In a special board meeting, the group overturned its decision not to endorse in the race after O’Rourke failed to appear at the organization's convention last month.
The labor group's president, Rick Levy, said in a Friday news release that O’Rourke’s campaign efforts now warranted AFL-CIO’s support.
“In the last few weeks, Beto O’Rourke has crisscrossed the state, talking to our members and answering tough questions about where he stands on key issues for working people,” Levy said in the release. “His answers to those questions, as well as his strong labor voting record, have demonstrated that he shares our priorities and values.”
O’Rourke said he was unable to attend the convention because of previously scheduled campaign events elsewhere in the state, although he ended up staying in Washington, D.C., due to the government shutdown. Levy told The Texas Tribune in January that members did not like being “taken for granted” and had concerns about the Democrat’s commitment to fighting for working people.
In 2016, the AFL-CIO gave the Democrat a 100 percent rating on his voting record, and his lifetime score is 95 percent. Cruz, R-Texas, received a 67 percent rating in 2016 and has a lifetime score of 12 percent.
Let’s keep up the momentum and kick out Cruz. Click here to donate and get involved with Beto’s campaign.