The race is officially on between U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso) for Cruz’s senate seat.
Cruz came out firing Wednesday, releasing a radio ad sung to the tune of Alabama's "If You're Gonna Play in Texas" that says, in part, “If you’re gonna run in Texas, you can’t be a liberal man.”
Cruz called O’Rourke a far-left liberal Democrat on primary eve.
“He supports amnesty. Congressman O’Rourke is a vocal opponent of the Second Amendment, a big proponent of gun control. Quite frankly, those are not the views of Texans. That is not where the majority of Texans are,” said Cruz.
But O’Rourke has shown he can raise funds. He has out-raised Cruz in the last two quarters, but Cruz maintains the overall advantage. He has about $1 million more in the bank.
When asked if that concerned him, Cruz said, “There is no doubt the far left, the Bernie Sanders extreme, is fueling Congressman O’Rourke and fueling national Democrats,” said Cruz.
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O’Rourke is quick to point out that he is not taking money from political action committees. He has crossed the state and has drawn big crowds in typically red areas.
When asked about being referred to as a far-left liberal Democrat, he pointed to what he is hearing from Texans.
“What I hear from them is they want make sure everyone who is looking for work can find a job that pays more than a living wage. That all of us should be able to see a doctor or afford our medications and that our state should be able to lead the way on immigration. And those aren’t liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican issues,” said O’Rourke.
O’Rourke is encouraged by the Democratic voting numbers in the primary, but he still has work to do on name recognition.
O’Rourke received 62 percent of the Democratic vote. Cruz still proved he has an established base and received almost 85 percent.
O'Rourke will continue what he has been doing, to try and turn the tide.
“I am going to continue to show up in Denton, and Collin, and Tarrant, and Dallas, and all of the counties in Texas. And it does not matter how red, how rural, how suburban, how urban they are,” he added.