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Texas Democrats Are Anxious They’ve Lost Too Many Times

Party operatives question whether voters will take Democrats seriously — and whether donors will still open their wallets — after another statewide loss to Ted Cruz.

Colin Allred
Rep. Colin Allred’s loss is spurring a reckoning in the Texas Democratic party. Shelby Tauber/AP

Democrats selling the case that Texas is purple had a worst-case scenario last night.

“We have to really reexamine everything from top to bottom,” Matt Angle, who founded the Lone Star Project, said. “From the way we talk to our base voters and the way we mobilize voters, because just importing what they’ve done in other states doesn’t work very well, or hasn’t the last couple of elections.”

Sen. Ted Cruz took an early victory lap, beating Rep. Colin Allred by about 9%, in what Democrats had hoped would be a photo finish. Donald Trump beat Vice President Harris by 14% in the state — the largest margin of victory he’s ever had.