With O'Rourke Close In Polls And Raising More Money, Cruz Urges Supporters
THE COLONY, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) - At a campaign rally at the Lava Cantina in The Colony, Texas Senator Ted Cruz told supporters "We've got a fight on our hands."
He urged his fellow Republicans not to get complacent and be satisfied with their party's accomplishments such as cuts to taxes and regulations, repealing the Obamacare individual mandate and approving conservatives to the various levels of the federal courts, including the Supreme Court. "Turn-out, turn-out, turn-out."
Cruz predicted the Democrats will see a record-setting turnout during the November midterm election, but said despite the fact this may be a good year for Democrats, there is some good news.
"This is Texas. There are a whole lot more conservatives than liberals in Texas."
During the past several weeks, a variety of polls have showed Cruz clinging to a lead over O'Rourke within five points, including one poll, Emerson College in Massachusetts, that says the race is neck and neck.
CBS11 asked Sen. Cruz if he missed an opportunity early-on to define his opponent before he gained popularity and made national headlines.
Cruz said, "I feel very good at where we are. I feel very confident where we are. There have been a lot of polls that have come out, some of the numbers have been highly questionable. At the end of the day, it is clear, we have a race, we have a competitive race and were taking it very seriously."
He also warned supporters that O'Rourke is raising a lot more money than he is, and so aside from urging them to donate to his campaign, he also told them to spread the word about his message and volunteer so that others will vote for him as well.
One of his supporters, Miriam Walker of Carrollton, said she and others will be there for him. "At the end of the day, we'll be out voting for Ted Cruz. We're not going to let it go blue under our watch."
To be sure, Cruz portrayed O'Rourke as a liberal who's not even trying to run as a centrist.
The Senator began his rally showing the video of O'Rourke supporting the NFL players who've taken a knee during the national anthem. "It's not Texas, it's not where Texans are and it's not just Republicans, it's Democrats, and it's independents, libertarians."
O'Rourke was asked about his remarks while campaigning In Austin Monday. "The best thing is not for us to argue the merit of whether someone should peacefully protest, but to address the underlying issues of violence against certain members of our community.
The debate over debates also continues.
O'Rourke announced he would not take part in the first of five debates proposed for this Friday in Dallas.
The Democratic Congressman from El Paso, who's giving up his seat to run against Cruz, suggested his opponent isn't being flexible during negotiations. "I'm convinced there will be a number of debates. One of the challenges we've had is that Senator Cruz not only attempted to dictate the date, the place, the time, also the moderators, but the subjects that we could and could not talk about, and the furniture that would be used on the stage."
For his part, Cruz told supporters and later reporters he had agreed to do more debates than any have previously been held for a U.S. Senate race in Texas.
"Unfortunately, what it seems is Beto O'Rourke doesn't want to debate. The first debate was supposed to be here in Dallas on Friday. I'd accepted the debate. I'm prepared to come to Dallas right now to do the debate. But the O'Rourke campaign just turned it down."
