Beto O'Rourke Invades Ted Cruz Country in Collin County in Fight to Upend the Republican Incumbent

PLANO--Democrat Beto O'Rourke this week brought his Senate campaign against incumbent Ted Cruz to Republican red Collin County, looking to catch a wave that would unsettle the Texas political scene."A reporter asked me earlier, and I'll paraphrase, how in the hell are you going to win this election?" O'Rourke told over 400 people gathered at his town hall meeting Thursday night at Plano Senior High School. "I don't have to do this. It's going to be all of us who does this."If O'Rourke is going to win his underdog campaign against Cruz, the well-known junior senator from Texas just off a campaign for president, he'll have to hope that the energy and enthusiasm Democrats have enjoyed since the stunning election of Donald Trump translates into significant votes next November. And he'll have to avoid getting crushed in areas like Collin County, long a burial ground for Democratic Party candidates.It's a tough task. The Texas suburbs that ring its major cities have propelled Republican candidates for decades, linking with the small towns and rural areas to form an unbreakable coalition. In 2012, Cruz beat Democrat Paul Sadler, 64 percent to 32 percent.But Democrats in Collin County have had a renaissance of sorts, and they hope to make supporters out of the many residents who have moved into the area from places like California. There are more Democrats running for office in Collin County since the Ronald Reagan era, and grassroots progressive groups have vowed to make the area competitive for Democrats."The really good news is that it's happening right now. The people who are out here tonight, the folks who organized this...are frustrated and excited and want to accomplish something bigger than they can do on their own and they recognize that organizing is going to make it happen," O'Rourke told The Dallas Morning News. "We're finding that to be the case everywhere that we go. The wonderful realizing that we have is we get to join something that is amazing in Texas right now. We don't have to lead it."  Continue reading...