Rising Dem announces his 2018 run against Cruz, but recent history signals it’ll be a tough road

In a move reminiscent of a 2016 Florida challenge, a Texas Democrat announced his bid to contest Sen. Ted Cruz when his seat comes up for re-election in 2018.

U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a punk rocker-turned-politician, has represented his district that includes the border city of El Paso, the city he grew up in, since 2013.

Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas /. Source: Screenshot

Unlike Cruz, O’Rourke claims that a fluid border between his hometown and Juarez, Mexico, has benefited both cities.

His announcement has been anticipated for some time now.

O’Rourke, 44, told the TexasTribune earlier this year that “It’s very likely that I will run for Senate in 2018.”

He said in an interview earlier this month that “I’m very moved to do it,”, adding that he’d already reached the “emotional decision” to make a challenge.

Last week his campaign announced that “On Friday, Beto O’Rourke has a big announcement to make.”

Friday is here, and in an email to his supporters with “Let’s go” as the subject, he wrote, “Today, in my hometown of El Paso, we made a big announcement: we’re launching our campaign for U.S. Senate against Ted Cruz.”

His message expressed a desire to turn away from the policies of the Trump administration and the ideals of his rival. He wrote:

There’s an opportunity to do better for Texas and better for this country. To move past the anxiety and fear, the walls and the refugee bans, and strongly and confidently work together on bringing this state and this country together on jobs, on improving our immigration laws, and on ensuring that we have a Senator working full time for Texas.

 

Now for the similarities to a 2016 Florida contest.

In 2018 Cruz, who was a 2016 candidate for the Republican nomination for president, will be finishing his first term in the U.S. Senate.

In 2016, Marco Rubio, who was a 2016 candidate for the Republican nomination for president, finished his first term in the U.S. Senate.

Cruz will be challenged by O’Rourke, a Democratic congressman who has held his seat since 2013.

Rubio was challenged by Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Democratic congressman who had held his seat since 2013.

Things didn’t turn out so well for Murphy. He only received 44.3 percent of the vote in a swing state against Rubio’s 52 percent.

And O’Rourke will challenge Cruz in the deep red state of Texas.

It’s been a few months since the Florida race, and today the name of Patrick Murphy is already being erased from Floridians’ memories.

Cruz isn’t taking anything for granted and wasted no time rising to the challenge.

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