Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) said national Democrats must start investing more in Texas to move the needle against Republicans’ longtime advantage in the red state.
Casar, a freshman who will likely be the next chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said it was a “devastating mistake” that the DSCC and other national organizations haven’t put more money into Democratic Rep. Colin Allred’s Senate bid.
“We can’t do it entirely on our own,” Casar told us. “I don’t just put it on the DSCC. I put it on national Democratic funders and institutions over the years that have focused on the short term.”
The DSCC raised eyebrows when they announced they would put money into the longshot Texas and Florida Senate races. Their investment ended up being modest. The Senate campaign arm and Allred’s campaign jointly ran a $2.6 million ad buy earlier this month against GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.
Polls have varied in the race, but the majority have shown Cruz leading. Cruz and Allred held their only debate on Tuesday.
Still, Texas Democrats insist that the Lone Star State is slowly moving their way. At the DNC, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) credited demographic shifts as part of what’s helped the party make inroads. Casar argues Cruz’s narrow win by 2.6 points over Beto O’Rourke in 2018 was significant.
Casar has been helping Allred’s campaign by holding fundraisers and events for the Texas Democrat and has tried to galvanize young voters.
He brought in progressive stars Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and O’Rourke to mobilize voters at college campuses and rallies in Austin and San Antonio.
But Casar argues Allred can appeal to moderate Republicans and independents too.
“Colin has taken that big tent approach where folks that are much more liberal or much more conservative are all acting as surrogates on the campaign trail,” Casar said.
In a new ad this week, Allred pushed back on Cruz’s attacks against him on transgender rights. Allred retorted by saying he’s a father and a Christian and that he “[doesn’t] want boys playing in girls’ sports.”
Casar said Allred has been doing “everything he can in the short time window he was given” to prepare for the difficult race against Cruz, but urged his party to learn from the results this year. Casar is also heading to Nevada today as part of a Harris campaign effort to reach Latino voters.
Also: Michelle Vallejo, running against Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Texas), is on the airwaves with a new ad hitting her opponent on abortion. Vallejo’s ad features a woman who had to flee the state to get a life-saving abortion.
The six-figure ad is running in the Harlingen market starting today.