Progressives (Liberals)

O’Rourke’s characterization of Cruz’s backhanded compliment?

“True to form,” he said.

Beto O’Rourke’s major talking point: racial injustice
O’Rourke made it clear from the beginning that he is speaking to people of color in Texas. Whether speaking directly about police brutality, gun control, marijuana legalization, the opioid crisis, or responding to his own past arrest for driving drunk, O’Rourke demonstrated that racial injustice is among his biggest priorities.

responding to his own past arrest for driving drunk, O’Rourke

Drunk driving only results in a dui misdemeanor charge, not a felony,

A Texas Department of Public Safety report on the incident was based on a motorist’s description of O’Rourke’s dark-colored Volvo passing him quickly about 3 a.m. on I-10. The Anthony Police Department and DPS reports differ as to whether O’Rourke was heading east or west on the interstate, but both agree that he struck a truck going in the same direction and crossed a grassy median into the opposite lanes.

Police said O’Rourke then attempted to leave the scene but was stopped by the same motorist he had just passed. The unidentified motorist “then turned on his overhead lights to warn oncoming traffic and to try to get the defendant (O’Rourke) to stop,” the report says.

The DPS report described O’Rourke as having “glossy” eyes, slurred speech, smelling of liquor, and almost falling to the ground as he got out of his car.

Beto O’Rourke’s major talking point: racial injustice

The Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News recently obtained copies of state and local police reports pertaining to the arrest. They show O’Rourke was found intoxicated after losing control of his vehicle on Interstate 10 and hitting a truck. Nobody was hurt in the accident in Anthony, Texas, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from El Paso. A witness told police that O’Rourke tried to drive away, but the witness stopped him until officers arrived, the documents show.

O’Rourke had just turned 26. He did a court-ordered diversion program and a drunken-driving charge was dismissed.

He has talked about the arrest while campaigning to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. In a recent op-ed , he described the incident as a “serious mistake for which there is no excuse.” He has not addressed the witness account of his alleged attempt to flee.

According to police, O’Rourke recorded a 0.136 and 0.134 on breathalyzers, above a blood-alcohol level of 0.10, Texas’ legal limit for driving at the time.

Cruz has never been arrested, but was once ticketed for underage alcohol possession when he was 17 and police stopped him and found unopened beer in his car.

O’Rourke had just turned 26

The late 60's and early 70's is when I first began that disenfranchised protest that continues to this day.

The late 60's and early 70's is when I first began that disenfranchised protest that continues to this day.

5) The “struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party” was oversold. Despite a lot of media talk about ideological clashes between “progressive” and “centrist” primary candidates, there was no clear pattern for who won primaries. Some of the notable “progressive” victories were in safe Democratic House districts (e.g., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s NY-14 and Ayanna Pressley’s MA-07) where district diversity and generational change were at least as important as ideology. Overall, “establishment” candidates did pretty well; an analysis of all Democratic House primaries by the Brookings Foundation showed 27 percent of “progressives” and 35 percent of “establishment” types winning.

6) There is, however, a new template emerging for Democratic success in diverse sunbelt states that should cheer progressives. The ancient formula for Democratic success or survival in southern and western red states with reasonably large minority populations was to run fairly conservative campaigns aimed at white swing voters, counting on minority voters to play along. This year there are several Democrats trying to break the mold in ways that could change the party regionally and nationally, such as African-American gubernatorial candidates Stacey Abrams of Georgia and Andrew Gillum of Florida–both of whom defeated “moderate” white opponents in their primaries–Latino gubernatorial nominee David Garcia of Arizona, and white progressive Senate nominee Beto O’Rourke of Texas. All these candidates are looking very competitive in their general elections.

The primaries were by-and-large encouraging to Democrats. But Republican turnout has been up as well, and November 6 could be a battle of polarized voter “bases” that are roughly equal in intensity. We don’t know yet how well each party has mobilized for early voting, in an environment where Republicans have fought to restrict opportunities for voting before Election Day. The six remaining weeks could be wild.