This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go for Beto O’Rourke. Beto was a superstar in the making – an attractive, charismatic, authentic, progressive Democrat who excited the Texas electorate, grew the Democratic base in Texas and got younger people out to the polls. But it wasn’t enough. Beto lost a nail-biter in his Senate race last night. Ted Cruz won re-election, and that’s just the worst. It would be one thing if this Obama-like candidate – which Beto clearly was – lost to an extremely popular Republican with a broad base of support. Ted Cruz is incredibly unpopular in Texas and outside of Texas. His Senate colleagues hate him, Republicans writ large loathe him, and I’d be willing to bet that many of the Texas voters who supported his re-election don’t even like him that much.
Of course there are positives – Beto gave the Democratic Party a blueprint for running competitive statewide races in Texas. His organization will live on in 2020. He’s still a charismatic future leader of the party. And even though he lost, he still had coattails – two Democrats gains in the House races in Texas, and several of the Republican congressmen who did win re-election only did so by the skin of their teeth.
Beto came out when the race was called and gave his concession speech to a tearful crowd. During the speech, he dropped an f-bomb! He told his supporters and campaign workers “I’m so f–king proud of you guys.”
We just want to say thank you to everyone who made this possible. Everyone who made us feel hopeful, everyone who inspired us. Everyone who became the most amazing campaign we could have ever hoped to belong to. Grateful that we got to do this with you. We love you. Goodnight! pic.twitter.com/1j6JnhtP0f
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) November 7, 2018
Oh, and Beyonce endorsed Beto on Election Day, with just hours left to vote.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Instagram.
This doesn’t do anything to help Texas stereotypes…
Oh, I don’t know. Voting for Vladimir Putin’s submissive’s submissive – a sack-, spine- and charmless foreign-import who endorsed the federal government seizing privately-owned Texas land and disrupting grazing and water supplies (to build the wall) doesn’t seem very “Texan”.
But then I grew up with Ann Richards & watching Dallas…
I’m so proud of Beto.
I’ve seen a few of his interviews down here (🇦🇺), and I can tell you, he impressed and charmed the socks off me. As disappointing as this is, his day will come. Beto has “Future President” written all over him.
I actually don’t think Beto will make it to the national level. He’s got some things that will hurt him. First of all since when did democracy’s start electing billionaire senators and governors? Priztker is a billionaire- how does that play with the party line? And beto- he’s married to a billionaire and tried using eminent domain to get prime housing real estate for his father in laws housing development..
The rich are there to fight for themselves, not for us, whatever party they are from. They’ll make us believe they are fighting for us- but don’t be fooled.
@Soemone, WTF are you talking about? There have been rich politicians in America since the Founding Fathers. In today’s dollars, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are the richest presidents we’ve had. Perhaps you’ve heard of Senator Jay Rockefeller, or any of the Kennedys or Roosevelts. Ross Perot made a decent run at the presidency not too long ago. Trump calls himself a billionaire, even if I doubt he is one. Get a grip.
There are a shit-ton of rich folk holding public office all over the country – Democrat AND Republican. I hope most are in it to do good, but if not we have plenty of laws that protect against public corruption as long as those in power abide by, and/or enforce them. Wealth doesn’t mean you don’t have integrity, the same way modest earnings don’t automatically mean you are an honorable person. A congressman in California has sixty felony indictments for campaign fraud against him and he has a negative net worth.
p.s. Forbes had an even-handed article about Beto’s wife and his father in law’s business dealings. fyi – Forbes doesn’t think they are billionaires.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2018/11/04/is-beto-orourkes-wife-really-a-billionaire-heiress-not-likely/#4dbc1638387f
Outside of Obama all the recent presidents have been millionaires before being elected so I don’t see this being an issue. Romney and McCain also super rich.
I expected Cruz to win by at least five points so I am thrilled Beto got so close. Cornyn is up in 2020 so Beto has another shot coming up.
Would Beto do as well against Cornyn do you think? I loathe Cornyn, but I do recognize he’s popular with the Republican establishment and conservative voters in a way that Ted Cruz isn’t.
Beto will not do as well against Cornyn in terms of getting votes from independents and Republicans who occasionally cross party lines (and there’s vanishingly few of those). 2020 would also be a tough year for that race because it will be a presidential election year, and Republicans will absolutely turn out in Texas to vote R up and down the ballot. Trump is, unfortunately, VERY popular with Texas Republicans, and I think that’s the only reason Cruz got enough turnout to beat back the Democratic wave this time — Rs turned out to vote to affirm Trump, not Cruz. Even with the Texas electorate changing and youth and Hispanic turnout going up, I don’t think we’ll see a Dem senator from Texas in 2020 unless Trump’s popularity with Republican voters takes a nosedive. And, frankly, I don’t know what it would take to puncture that bubble. Probably an almighty economic crash or an unsuccessful war, and while I can see those things on the horizon, I don’t think they’re going to develop fully prior to 2020.
Personally, I would like to see Beto spearhead nationwide grassroots organizing efforts, hopefully partnering with existing organizations. We need star power like his focused on unsexy stuff like voter registration drives, helping poor people overcome ID law hurdles, and organizing novice Dems to run for local office. He has the tireless work ethic needed for that stuff, and he has that rock star thing going on that makes people want to join in just for the chance to maybe one day meet him. He could make a huge difference and maintain a high public profile in readiness for future political contests.
I’m hoping he’s on the ticket as VP with Michelle Obama, as long as I’m dreaming.
Losing to Ted Cruz must feel like losing to Donald Trump
Sooner, Beyonce.
Texan here- sadly if these celebrity endorsements did anything it was hurt him.
I lived in Texas (Austin) for a long time and had the same thought.
Yeah you’re probably right. I guess I just figured it’s not a celebrity, it’s BEYONCÉ. 🙂
Tennessean here. Taylor’s direct influence and significant efforts to register voters didn’t greatly help Bredesen, either.
All it took was Orange holding a couple of rallies to pump up his opponent’s base and get her back in the lead. Sad that Orange is the greater influence in the end. He knows how to go to lesser-visited places and pump up people who eat up the attention.
Right? Could have done better, Bey.
That was useless. Last week it would have made a HUGE difference to people who actually care what she thinks, but too little too late.
I feel like people who respect Beyonce were already voting for Beto, personally.
This feels like such a disappointment and I hate to be one of those annoying people who’s like “its a win that it was so close!” because what matters ultimately is who actually goes to the Senate in January.
But….it is a win that it was so close.
I know what you mean, but truly it was an impressive run for a dem in Texas! Next time it’s his.
Did anybody seriously expect that he would win, though? What he pulled off was nothing short of amazing and inspirational, given the fact that it’s Texas.
And now we get the pleasure of voting for Beto 2020 so it’s a win-win, really. 😀
I sincerely believed he was going to win. I’m a life-long Texan.
As an across the pond observator I wonder – is Beto a potential candidate for president? Or is it too soon to ask that?
There is talk of it, although not from Beto himself.
would be interesting
It’d be a bad idea. As much as I dislike him, David Frum was right on the CBC yesterday: the 1st step for running for President should be winning your elections, not losing them. I know that Trump was never elected before he ran, but Dems are held to higher standards by GOP-lite and independents voters so it’d likely be a debacle at the national level… Beto could definitely try, he has the money, but I doubt it’d be wise.
Good thing Lincoln didn’t believe that winning his senate race should be a prerequisite to running for President.
I think that reads snarkier than I intend it (and I know, not a timely reference, but it was valuable to our country that Lincoln didn’t let losing his senate race stop him from running for President)
A national election and a local, even state-wide election are two different electorates. Losing to Ted Cruz makes me question the decision making of the electorate, not the quality of the candidate. At this point, I can’t say if I would vote for Beto in a primary, but I would not hold this election against him.
@Arpeggi,
Just because you lost a democratic run by 2% in a very red state doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bring your platform to the entire country. Based on last night, he had a good chance of taking almost the entire midwest….you know, the swing states that win presidents elections?
He’s likable and brings a positive message. As an Austinite who met him and was privileged to have him take the time to talk to me and take a selfie with me, I hope it’s not the last we see of him.
Yeah I really disagree with this. There are so many reasons why he’d be a great POTUS candidate:
Beto doesn’t have the baggage that some of the older, more experienced candidates have. He generated a TREMENDOUS amount of enthusiasm all over the country. He appeals to progressives, liberals, and centrists alike. And mostly, a lot of us want the chance to vote for him!
So you are saying that his loss somehow disqualifies him from running as POTUS whereas many of us see what he was able to accomplish against all odds. This guy may have lost but he has what it takes to win and win bigger than a senate seat IMO.
I’m not saying that Beto isn’t great or that he doesn’t have the charisma or qualities that would make him a good candidate. But I don’t think it’s enough, I’m also unsure that it should be enough.
There are so many other ways that he could serve his country/Texas and the Dems. There are great potential candidates that have won their elections, many of them are women, many are under 60. Beto would potentially make a good VP candidate: he could help bring votes and money, he’d gain experience at a national level and could run in 10 years. I could also see him run for governor and pull an Ann Richards, that’d be awesome.
I agree on there being other people with wins and more experience and especially being people of color and women, but he got a lot of republicans in texas to vote democrat. That’s not nothing. Also, he managed to get the entire country to sponsor his campaign.
I really like him he’s gonna be a presidential candidate at some point but 2020 seems a bit rushed. I really don’t understand why people instantly think he’s should be running for president and are not hyping gillium or Stacey Abrams to the same extent? Abrams speech last night was actually better than beto’s. She’s every bit as impressive.
It’s ironic that this is happening when the real trend from last night was that women and minorities particular women of color were the real winners. This isn’t against Beto but more a critical view on how he’s been anointed the messiah of the dems and people are ready to push aside women and people of color as soon as a promising white male shows up.
Jessica-I absolutely LOVE Abrams and Gillum. I think they’d both be amazing presidential candidates but I’m just not convinced that they would win.
USA is way too racist and I get anxiety even thinking about what they would do to a WoC POTUS candidate. I mean, based on what the Right has done in targeting Maxine Waters, Michelle Obama, Susan Rice etc…
Kamala Harris is incredibly qualified and relatively popular but I even worry about her if she decides to run. In terms of WW, Warren has hinted at it but I hope she doesn’t for reasons both personal (she’s my senator) and not (I don’t think she can win).
I’ve said from the beginning that I want someone who will WIN, period. Out of all the inspirational campaigns that came out of 2018 midterms, I think Beto’s campaign had the most cross-appeal. Is that fair? No, absolutely not, but that’s the reality. He got a decent amount of white Republicans and Independents to vote for him. I’m not sure that segment would turn out for a black candidate because white people suck. But yeah, if Gillum or Abrams got the nom I would be pumped to vote for them.
Regardless, I’m excited about prospects for 2020.
ETA: I completely agree that Beto has been anointed the messiah. I think it’s dangerous as we could set him or ourselves up for massive disappointment. I think it behooves us to hit the brakes a bit on the collective worship but I still hope he runs in 2020.
Hey kitten! Thanks for your reply 🙂
But I have to say this type of cynicism is stuck in 2016. You’re not taking into account how many women and what a diverse group of people were just elected and how the demographic is changing.
There’s this idea and I don’t mean you specifically that because Hillary lost it has to be near impossible for a person who is black AND a woman to win. I see it everywhere and ut annoys me because we black women went to work for Hillary and go to work for white males but white liberal/ progressivea are like sorry that’s not realistic and they won’t invest in us the way we invest in them. And at the same time they scold the white women who voted for trump or cruz. The thing is Gore didn’t win, Kerry didn’t win but obama did. That wasn’t realisticalkt how it was supposed to be. Hillary didn’t win but who is to say Stacey Abrams or Kamala Harris can’t win? And FYI the 3 women who polls best against trump are all black. (Oprah, Michelle O and Kamala-who btw all poll well among the much talked about suburban white women demographic)
https://www.onepolitics.com/onepolitics/trump-s-2020-woman-problem
So please don’t underestimate black womens appeal.
And I seen you compared Beto to obama but it’s worth mentioning obama was a progressive pragmatist. He wasn’t just a gifted speaker and campaigner he was a shrewd politician who knew how to win elections.I don’t see that with Beto yet. I also think a tough primary would peak holes in his perfect progressive amor being that he comes from a very privileged background and is married to a billionaire. Obama was a lot more credible in understanding normal working people he was able to win over people because he could relate.
@ Jessica-Point taken and I hope you’re right. And if you are, then I would happily vote for either Gillum or Abrams. Either way, they are political stars to me.
And FWIW, I was one of the people telling others not to dismiss Oprah out-of-hand. If she ended up running, I think she’d have a decent chance of winning.
I think so. He has a bright future ahead of him.
I agree….we haven’t seen the last of him, this is only the beginning…. I’m hoping for Beto 20/20
Absolutely. He is an experienced legislator, with multiple terms as a State Representative at the National level. He has charisma, drive, and ambition, and INCREDIBLE amounts of good will going forward. Time to get on board, folks!! His campaign for President starts NOW!!!
Whoa @Jessica I did not say that I was interested in pushing aside Gillum or Abrams in favor of Beto. Nor did I argue that he should be run in 2020 over those two excellent candidates. Someone asked a Beto specific question on a Beto post and many of us answered.
I’m also excited for 2020.
Hey @escondista I am not sure why you think I was specifically talking to you? It wasn’t talking to anyone specifically but I have to say it’s striking how many people are hyping Beto 2020 and I haven’t see the same hype for Abrams or Gillum. As kitten said ( and that was my suspicion) it’s because they are black and people have decided we must run a white man.
I completely get your point, Jessica, and I understood you were speaking generally. It IS true that Beto is getting way more hyped than Abrams or Gillum. I’m going to let what you said marinate a bit because it’s possible that I’m being too cynical or honestly, just too scared.
I’m really protective of my favorite politicians because there aren’t many out there that truly inspire me. I guess I’m just scared of seeing another woman or PoC get put on the front lines to be torn apart by Trump’s rabid base. But I also know that Gillum and Abrams are strong enough to handle the backlash.
Thanks for the reply above.
I don’t live in Texas but this one hurt to lose and made me tear up. I hope we are going to see more of him.
I live in Austin and realistically this race was never going to go to Beto, not in 2018. I’m still so disappointed (I have no words for the pile is steaming garbage that is Cruz). I’m trying to find hope in the groundwork he laid for future elections here.
I’m in Tarrant County and the big news here is we went blue for Beto. Tarrant County is the last large county not solid blue, so it is a huge fricking deal that we pulled off a win for him here. Sadly it did not translate to a statewide win but it holds great promise for future elections. We worked our bums off for Beto and had a huge learning curve since it was all done by grassroots movements but we did it. We are going into 2020 that much stronger, which I hope means opportunity for a purple state soon.
Completely agree.
Tarrant County here too! He had my vote. I genuinely thought we had a chance.
You guys also kicked out Senators Konni Burton and Don Huffines, which is HUGE. I haven’t stopped smiling today, despite the Beto loss.
Konni was my senator and I am THRILLED to see her go. She is a terrible person.
Another Texan here. I live in a conservative community, but was excited to see such open support for Beto. I was crushed and angry when the race was called last night. People hate Cruz in Texas! But conservative Texans are voting for republicans because they’d rather see the state be a certain color or a certain letter after their name. I will closely watch Beto and follow his career. He will be president one day.
Pflugerville here. I’m with you, I knew deep down he wasn’t going to win but I really wanted him to.
I live in Austin too, met him just a few weeks ago for early voting, it was a long dream but damn, it was close.
Texan also. I’ll admit that yesterday I voted for the first time, because it was the first time I felt like my vote would count/might help. I live in a solidly blue area, so our mayor/house rep/etc are always Democrats. Hoped we’d have a Democrat for senator for the first time since I’ve lived here. Beto didn’t make it this time, but he was close, and he gave a lot of people in Texas the feeling of hope that things could change here. There’s a win in that, even if it doesn’t feel like it today.
Same, girl. I don’t vote in Texas unless it’s to say I didn’t vote for whomever the Republican President is on re-election. I voted for Beto because I thought it might make a difference. My husband, who loves politics, was crushed when I told him I’ll never believe my vote in Texas matters again.
I live in Williamson County, which has been considered very red, but here Beto and MJ Hager running for US House both won. Some of the other races were very close, and we even flipped two TX House seats to blue. I want to say Williamson County is blue now. Purple for sure, right?!? Things are changing, not as fast as I would like, but it is happening.
He totally had a chance~the voting machines CHANGED straight ticket Democratic ticket votes to pick Cruz at the end of the ballot. Cruz CHEATED. This happened many many actually CAUGHT times, and who knows how many people didn’t catch it that their picked Democrat was CHANGED to pick the republican. He TOTALLY had a chance~
I moved to Texas from Alabama 2 years ago. I am so disappointed in both my home state and my new state. I am going to try to remain hopeful. There are a lot of Beto signs in my neighborhood so I am going to remind myself I’m not alone.
Still can’t believe that Ted Cruz was in the running to be the republican nominee for president. He is like Grandpa from the Munsters but without the warmth and charming personality
Just revolting
He’s so revolting. He is just awful.
Beto is GREAT.
Real talk: how does Cruz keep winning? Do people just vote him in because he’s an R and this is Texas? He is a charisma vacuum. He’s the human embodiment of Pantone color 448 C. Why, Texas?
It really is in part because he has that R by his name. If I’m being really honest, we just have to wait for the boomers to exit the voting pool so the offset from younger voters gets traction. Though I really feel despair when I think about just how utterly resistant to facts and decency most Republican voters are these days. There’s no persuading them even when they’re voting against their own interests.
Native Texan here…I love Beto, can’t stand Cruz, but this is texas. There are a lot of die- hard Republicans who would never vote Democrat. But, I live in a pretty conservative suburb of Houston and the whole county went blue.
It’s all about him being a republican. Texas is huge. Beto had all the major cities but there’s a lot of small, rural towns in Texas and they all voted Cruz.
This is exactly it. All of the major cities and burbs went blue. You can’t do anything but wait for the old folks in the rural small towns to die off as horrible as that sounds. Sorrynotsorry.
Nicolle Wallace was talking about this a bit last night on MSNBC and her thing was – he is not well liked. He is not charismatic. He does not have a good personality. But those things have ALWAYS been true about him and somehow he makes it work. So when people go to the polls they aren’t thinking “well Cruz is a charisma vacuum and Beto is so personable,” bc they have already come to terms with Cruz’s lack of charisma so they look at the R.
I don’t think I’m repeating it well, ha, but it made sense when she was talking about it.
I was watching MSNBC last night and you explained it perfectly. It just makes no sense, KWIM? Logically, all Cruz has is the R next to his name. I guess in Texas that is enough.
I was super upset, but I’m hoping Beto will stay in the game and stay optimistic. His charisma is inspirational.
Here in ‘Bama, which is totally controlled by R’s, there’s no Medicaid expansion, small rural hospitals have closed all over the state, but people so poor they don’t have a pot to pee in still vote R, so yeah.
@jerusha my husband’s father is a doctor in Alabama. He has some patients that travel 3 hours to see him because they do not have a hospital near their towns.
Don’t forget about all the dark money backing Cruz, too. Beto raised a remarkable amount of money and ran an unbelievably strong race considering what he’s always been up against.
This is a good point. Ted Cruz is involved in some shady dealings. It’s my hope that he gets exposed and indicted at some point. A girl can dream!
Sigh-as a person that lives in Texas this totally bums me out. Yes it was the closest we’ve had a dem to winning in decades-yes some conservative counties flipped. But you have those ‘undecided’ voters that are never ever ever going to vote for a dem. Even if they hate Cruz to.
At least my city went blue. But ugh having to see Ted Cruz’s face the next 6 years. That smirky awful face.
Yupp. I live in Texas too and was talking to one friend who hates Cruz but wouldn’t vote for Beto because he was too liberal. A few of my husband’s coworkers said the same thing and these are all people in their mid and upper twenties. My friend also said his grandma on the other hand loves Cruz and would be going to vote for him.
We’re in OK and all we were worried about was Beto too! We are w you guys all the way and hated that we couldn’t help him out in some way.
So Texas prefers the Zodiac Killer to a Democrat. #shocking
Cruz kisses the a** of Trump, who insulted his wife’s looks and said that his dad killed JFK. Why anyone would think this man who wouldn’t stand up for his family would stand up for his state is beyond me.
I knew it was a longshot, but I was hopeful for an upset. But the coattails effect was real, So many people got engaged in the process, he is on the national stage now, and I think we’re going to see a lot more from him. I would absolutely vote for him on the national level.
Yes yes yes. He was always a long shot and he did amazingly well considering. This is a good sign for the future. I refuse to believe otherwise.
Absolutely.
Kitten, long time lurker here. I absolutely love your and other commenters’ responses. Had a question, not sure if you or someone will see it, and help me understand. Why didn’t Obama endorse Beto, in the lists of endorsements which were recently published by his office. Am I missing something here or is democratic leadership isn’t boosting Beto as much as they should.
Hi Solace!
Thanks for the kind words.
As for your question, Obama was very strategic in NOT endorsing Beto. He knew it would not help Beto at all in a state like Texas.
Obama is particularly unpopular among Republicans in Texas, and given the politics of the race, Beto needed to get a healthy dose of GOP votes to win.
Ah, I get it now. Thanks for taking the time to explain 🙂
I was so sad when they called it for Cruz (the elections were on most Canadian news stations) – how does Cruz keep winning when everyone hates him???? I love Beto’s message of optimism and his rejection of fear, politics needs more of that right now!
Texan here who voted for Beto. I’m disappointed and sad but it was always a long shot to beat Cruz. Pollsters only gave him a 20% chance of winning. Though I’m sad, I’m also hopeful because the margin was so close for Texas.
Once again the demographic that is killing us is white women. How the hell do you choose cruz over Beto?
Money, guns, & abortion rights are more important to some people.
Abortion non-rights, I would say.
Highly educated white women in large cities & suburbs across the country voted in record numbers for Democrats at every level yesterday. The white women voting red are in rural areas. The gerrymandered lines continue to betray the popular vote in our democracy. Many states passed proposals to bring an end to this yesterday as well.
Texan here 🙋🏻♀️ This sh*t hurts. The cynical side of me did believe that Zodiac Killer was gonna pull this off in the end, but I still put my vote in for Beto and seeing him in the lead most of the night had me feeling hopeful. He put so much heart into this campaign and he would have been great for Texas. There’s a lot of talk of him running for prez in 2020, and I’m not against it. This country needs someone like him! I hope this doesn’t discourage him, he did really great with all things considered.
This sucks. I’m not a Texan, but I had high hopes for Beto. I don’t know what keeps getting Ted Cruz to have supporters voting for him
Old white people who only vote republican.
@Franny: um, yes, old white people, as well as young white people, and white women. White people voted for Cruz.
@OCE idk I was looking at some numbers and Beto actually got the majority of votes from everyone under 45. It was the 45 and older crowd who voted Cruz. Which gives me some hope.
For me, the big headline we need to pay attention to is the power of the youth vote. In Congress, the Democrats that won did so because of the strength of young voters. If you look at the average across all House races, Democratic candidates led their Republican opponents by thirty-five points in the eighteen-to-twenty-nine age group. In the thirty-to-forty-four demographic, Democrats won by nineteen points. Those are huge margins, and the size of the next generation (which rivals that of the boomers) could potentially swamp the olds for the foreseeable future. We just need to help and encourage them to get energized and voting.
Aren’t you in FL, Beth? I wanna know how the f*ck ANYBODY votes for DeSantis!
And yeah, Cruz too. I said to my BF that there must be so many Dems waking up in FL, TX, and GA with the biggest sense of disappointment. If this happened in Mass, I’d be side-eying every single white person I see, wondering if they voted R.
I’m in Florida, in a majorly red area. I’m so f****** salty. Had to listen to my grandparents thank God the republicans won and that they couldn’t believe it was such a close race because they can’t believe that many people would vote democrat. I’m dreading going to work and seeing all of the people who I know voted for DeSantis and that turd Rick Scott. I need to move.
I’m sorry. Gillum was so special and by and large the superior candidate on every level. He ran the campaign of a lifetime and absolutely deserved to win.
I still think something shady happened. I can’t help it.
I’m a (west) Texan and so so broken hearted. The minute TX turned red last night, I turned off the tv and couldn’t watch coverage anymore. My heart hurts. Beto recently visited our city and he was so passionate, energetic, and loving towards his supporters. So much hurt and I totally couldn’t stand looking into the gloating faces of my ‘Make ‘murica great again’ peers. Still hoping he’ll change his mind about running for president.
Well, now that he’s not busy, I can carry on with my fantasy of him being single and that he and I will one day sit on a couch together, drinking red wine and watching the final season of Game of Thrones.
Something very presidential about Beto
Texan here, voted for Beto. He is the hardest working candidate I’ve ever seen, and I was so hopeful he could win, despite this being a republican state. So many of my fellow (formerly) republican friends campaigned hard for him. I feel like the ultimate stopper for most republican people I’ve encountered is the pro-life stance. It kills me that people will not vote for someone over a single issue. Also, people actually didn’t like that Hollywood endorsed him—they felt it meant he wasn’t for Texas. Which is stupid.
I am surprised/happy that my county, Tarrant county, voted for him. But I’m encouraged by Beto’s race, as close as it was. I feel personally that he’s got exceptional qualities—he reminds me of Obama, even Kennedy. Hopefully he will rest up and continue in politics. I’ll continue to vote for him.
What’s so infuriating, too, is that laws against abortion don’t stop abortion from happening, and they sure as sh!t don’t stop child abuse. What DOES reduce abortion is comprehensive sex education, access to effective contraception, empowerment of women to make uncoerced decisions about sex and reproduction, and economic support for low-income women who already have children. I.e., exactly the things Republicans do not support. Which is how you know their “pro-life” stance isn’t really about protecting children, either before or after birth.
Let’s be realistic, Beto had a steep hill to climb. Texas is Texas and no amount of charisma, poise, inspiration was going to wipe out all of that deep, deep red. Though Beto didn’t win, this race revealed a formula to winning, or coming close in a red state. If he had lost in Florida or Arizonia, or Virginia it would’ve been disheartening. And also, Andrew Gillium and Stacey Abrams both came close to winning the governorship despite the massive racism and shenanigans that was up against both of them. I was disappointed last night, but by God I’m not losing hope. Almost a million people got back their right to vote in Florida. over 100 women are in the House. Donald Trump for the first time in 2 years will be held accountable for his corruption.
Several Texans in the know on this site said Beto couldn’t win, but I refused to believe you. I guess you do understand your state much better than I do. But I will never understand how someone so repulsive as Cruz could win anything. Even with the R just don’t get it.
There’s a reason I got the eff out of small-town Texas the minute I could. The urban population centers are extremely diverse, culturally sophisticated, economically robust, and mostly vote Democratic. The small-town and rural areas of the state are pretty awful, even though there are good individuals everywhere. Ex-urban Texas is in thrall to extremist evangelical “Christian” ideology, and all the white supremacy and misogyny that goes with that. They’ll vote for anything with an R next to it, and they are all in for Trump.
Broke my heart living in Texas to see this young man lose to that oily douche Cruz. Lots of dirty money buys him his wins. Him and Abbott and Paxton.
What made my skin crawl was watching these simpering women gushing over him and 45.
Women my age, 60, and I have never wanted to bitch slap old women so much as I did last night. I saw a few young women too carrying on like Creepy Cruz was some kind of pop star.
I just threw up a little.
We did have a shake up with Allred and I hope good old boy Sessions and his followers wept.
Many of you are talking how presidential Beto is. I feel we will see that in the next 10 years. He is going back to El Paso to “rest” is the word.
I hope his “rest” goes well. He reminds me of a Kennedy and Obama mix. I love that. He is truly one of the good guys.
When he speaks, he reminds me so much of Obama. He’s got that special x factor that is so rare among politicians.
It was always going to be unlikely that he won, but Texas still turned around 11 seats last night and is sending it’s first Latinas to congress. This is a big deal.
Something else that’s a big deal, but won’t get a lot of attention- Lupe Valdez lost the governor’s race by only 7 pts., that’s with very little campaigning and almost zero TV ads. Think about what we could do with a more exciting candidate? We could actually turn Texas blue in 4 years!
To the Texans and Floridians who worked/voted for Beto and Andrew, I’m so sorry. Living in Alabama, I understand so well how you feel. To the rest of the Texans and Floridians, eat sh1t.
As a former Alabamian now Texan ,I’m sorry about Walt Maddox! I really had hope he would win the governship.
Thanks, Ivey is a giant zero. She only became governor because our Luv Gov had to resign in shame. She’s 74(my age), but she’s 74 in the same way people were in the 50s-old! Why the hell Alabama wants to remain stagnant, I don’t know. We can’t even say “Thank God for Mississippi” anymore. At least we can kick Louisiana.😔😔😔
As someone born and raised in the El Paso, Cuidad Juárez community, I am so proud of Beto for showing the world what a class act looks like in the world of politics. More than ever, I’m so grateful and couldn’t be more proud to have been born and raised in the great city of El Paso Texas! ! El Paso loves you Beto and thank you for representing the El Paso community with such positive light. This is only the beginning . Let’s do this in 2020!!!
Another Texan here…maybe this will help explain it. People here DO hate Cruz. It’s 100% not a thing here to vote for the person or personality you like. People vote based on what they think will or won’t happen for their family and freedoms with that party in charge. So, in this case, Texans believe Cruz represents more personal/financial freedom and less government interference. And by the same measure, they believe Beto represents more big government, more interference, and less personal freedom. Beto was way more likeable and cool. Ted is the abhorrent Zodiac Killer. But most Texans are not gonna give up their (perceived) personal freedoms for more government interference, no matter what. That is the long and short of it ’round here.
The freedom to breathe dirty air, drink polluted water, lose species of animals, endure more and more savage tornadoes and hurricanes courtesy of climate change, etc., etc., etc. Conservatives are so bright. Not.
Texas is the same state whose genius politicians threatened secession a few years back under Obama to protect ~Constitutional freedom~, completely ignoring the fact that the SC views it as a violation of the Constitutional agreement to state placement in the American legal body as far back as the mid-1800s. Then again, I’d love to see them actually follow through on it and then watch as all of their federal funding and free state interchange is yanked, forcing them to renegotiate with the United States as a sovereign body.
@Veronica S. Yep, most Red states are big hogs at the trough of federal money, while contributing very little to it.
Given the amount of gerrymandering and voter suppression that exists in Texas, it’s amazing he even got as far as he did. Take heart in the fact that we made Ted Cruz sweat over TEXAS going blue of all things. In 2014, he won by more than a 15 point margin. This one, he barely held over 3% over Beto…in a MIDTERM election where it’s typically Republican dominated. The work now has to go to the disenfranchised and getting their vote out.
This. Obviously I was hoping he’d pull off an upset, but that is what it would have been – an upset. The fact that it was this close is huge. I was happy to cast my vote for him and I’d do it again if the opportunity arises.
Beto has a lot of appeal, but I’m still hoping one of the Castro brothers will try and make a move on a bigger stage.
I’m in Austin and said all along that Beto wouldn’t win, but started to get excited when I saw how close it was. I totally think he’s presidential and wouldn’t at all be surprised to see him run in 2020 since he had so much support from outside of Texas.
it’s hard to believe that beto and ted cruz are essentially the same age.!
Ted Cruz worked with Cambridge Analytica on his presidential bid. He continued to work with them on this senate race. He’s so corrupt. This stinks to high heaven.
I’m a Beto supporter in Austin and plan to keep my Ted Cruz was the Zodiac Killer tee shirt dusted off for future wearings. It’s no secret that Ted Cruz is funded by Dark Money. I know this is Texas and it’s incredible this election was so close, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if it wasn’t rigged. No way could 45 permit the loss of a Senate seat.
I agree, the more I think about this, the more I conclude that the ted Cruz win may have been tampered and orchestrated somehow.
There were a number of squeaker races across the country. This is just the beginning. Democrats roll up your sleeves for the years to come, local, county, state and federal. Continue with registration efforts. Investigate and fight voter suppression in all it’s forms. Stress the importance of get out the vote. Beto needs more seasoning. He visited all of Texas’ counties which is wonderful. Give him time, not for 2020 but later. And I hope he shares what he learned traveling the length and breath of Texas in a book and lectures here and abroad.
Yes to all of this.
Veronica S. I just read your comment and a huge Yes!
Beto has huge National appeal. We will be seeing him again and he will shine on the bigger stage. What he was able to do in TX is inspiring.
Native Texan here, from Houston. The republicans had the fix in by rigged voting machines that switched straight party Democratic votes to a vote for Ted Cruz. It is the ONLY reason he “won”~by lying and cheating. Beto will be running for President in 2020, and he will WIN because he is the real deal. He got HALF THE VOTE in a DEEPLY deeply red state. The down ballots that got elected within his momentum will make a HUGE impact on lives here in Texas, and Cornyn’s seat is up for grabs in 2 years (come ON, Castro Brothers!!). So while I weep for Texas, ultimately the greater good for ALL of us will be WHEN Beto runs for and WINS the Presidency. #gameon #baeto #betoforpresident #beto2020 #itaintovernotbyalongshot
There were also a lot of issues around insufficient numbers of and/or non-functioning voting machines in heavily Dem precincts with large numbers of minority voters. I do tend to believe the official explanation that the vote flipping is due to the machines being garbage rather than actually rigged (I remember Republicans in Texas complaining about the same thing in the 2016 election), but there was definitely dirty pool going on in addition to the state’s normal partisan lean. And, yes, we need hand-marked paper ballots, like, yesterday — all across the country.
Don’t see why a swear word is such a big deal. We’re all adults here.
I thought they had problems w people who voted straight democrat…the machines auto switched your vote to Cruz. Did they sort that out????? This race was too close ….they need to do a recheck recount. I dont trust these results. I feel like Beto had this. They need to go back and sort this one out.
Despite there literally being talk on here and everywhere else about Taylor Swift’s endorsement not helping at all in the Tennessee race, there are people here and on social media upset that Beyoncé didn’t announce her support for Beto earlier… get a grip people. She had voter registration booths at every single one of her US concerts at the On The Run II Tour, regularly reminded fans to vote on her website, nevermind everything she’s done in the past for Democratic candidates. Stop acting like Bey or her base were to blame for the Cruz win.
Thank you!
I think Beto did as well as he did because people, even republicans, hate Ted Cruz and are deeply dissatisfied with him. If you run Beto against a more likable conservative candidate, you’d likely see his numbers drop. Texas is Texas. Super patriotic, lots of rural communities, staunch republicans with the exception of certain cities like Austin, College Station, etc. It shows how disliked Cruz is in Texas. As an aside, Cruz has a freakishly smooth face LOL. Like a ventriloquist dummy.
As for Beyonce…. what on earth was the point of her posting that a few hours before the polls closed? Seems so fake and opportunistic to me. This election proved celebrity endorsements DO NOT WORK. They didn’t work for Hillary and they didn’t work last night. People do not vote based on what celebrities tell them to do. Dems need to drop that strategy.
There are so many bad takes in these comments.
Beto was always a long shot. The fact that he came within less than three points of beating Ted Cruz in TEXAS makes him a viable national candidate, period. This is the beginning for Beto, not the end.
-A Texan
I really hate to be the ahole here, because I know that a great deal of you in Texas and in other parts worked very hard on these elections and with getting the vote out and educating people on issues. And far be it from me to bring race into this conversation so quickly, but exit polls indicate that roughly 60% of white women in Texas who voted, voted for Ted Cruz. The numbers are even worse for the governor’s election in Georgia, where 76% of the white women who voted voted for Kemp over Stacey Abrams.
I know there’s a lot of issues on the table here, especially with regards to voter disenfranchisement in places like Texas and Georgia. And again, I don’t want to bring up race in two elections where I know everyone involved did their best to get the progressive candidates in. But I’m talking about white women because the margins by which white women voted for two candidates who are so diametrically against their best interests as human beings is shocking to me. Especially in a state like Georgia, where so many of them chose the opponent over Stacey Abrams.
I’m so glad for the ways in which Democrats and other progressives have changed the way they campaign. They’ve done a lot that’s good. And there are so many white women, both here in these comments and elsewhere, who have done their absolute best to do better, to be more introspective, to ask the difficult questions over the last two years about what it means to confront racism in America. And yet, there’s still so much work to be done, and hopefully that serves as a compass for what we need to do in the future.
This needs to be said. 100%. And yes we can break down the numbers and see that younger white women didn’t vote Republican in such large numbers. But white women are a problem. As a group we benefit from white privilege and white supremacy and those of us who know better *must* do the difficult, uncomfortable work of calling it out in other white women, of being genuine allies for women of color, of fighting and marching and using our privilege in whatever ways we can to break white supremacy. I don’t even know what to do to about it, but even that is a sign that my privilege protects me. I can afford to take a breather and figure out how to fight more, because I’m not under constant threat in the same way that other women might be.
Said it up top, but I think it bears repeating-
Highly educated white women in large cities & suburbs across the country voted in record numbers for Democrats at every level yesterday. The white women voting red are in rural areas. The gerrymandered lines continue to betray the popular vote in our democracy. Many states passed proposals to bring an end to this yesterday as well.
I’m a New Zealander and even I’m gutted about Beto, more so about Stacey Abrams. I find her to be an amazing intelligent inspiring woman. I very much hope she will be in a major leadership role one day. I would love to see her as President. I work for an American company in NZ and am surrounded by Americans – most of them said that they didn’t vote and none of them could tell me who their candidates were/are. I couldn’t believe it.
Sorry, but close only counts in horseshoes… Beto was only popular in his home county, Austin and Dallas… ‘hipster towns’ in our State. Texas has been very conservative for over two decades now. Folks in oil and gas protect their big money by voting for conservatives.
Beyonce hasn’t lived here in a long time… we’re not voting for The Voice, we’re voting for the future of our State.