Beto O'Rourke Austin Town Hall Could Be A Humdinger

AUSTIN, TEXAS — If RSVPs on a Facebook event page yield any bellwether of interest, then Monday's Beto O'Rouke town hall in Austin is shaping up to be a humdinger.

The Democratic challenger hoping to wrest control of the Senate seat currently held by Ted Cruz is coming to the capital city, riding a cresting wave of popularity. At last check, more than 7,000 people had expressed an interest in going to the gathering with another 1,000 confirming for sure.

The high interest is rooted in O'Rourke's impressive gains in pre-election polls that show he's within striking distance of matching Cruz in popularity among voters. Anywhere else, such a close contest might not be too uncommon. But in deep-red Texas, O'Rourke's rising popularity is being viewed as something of an anomaly in state politics.

In short, O'Rourke has emerged as something of a poster boy for a much-hoped-for "Blue Wave" of Democratic wins in the midterm elections.

A newly released Marist College poll shows Republican Sen. Ted Cruz with a 49 percent to 45 percent advantage over his Democratic opponent in the Texas Senate race. Another voter survey, the Quinnipiac university poll also gives Cruz a small yet clear advantage in the developing contest.

On Monday — just as the town hall was getting under way — another survey was released, painting the race as being even tighter. The Emerson College poll, released Monday morning, has the Democratic challenger trailing Cruz by just a single point, 38-37. The results were yielded after a survey of 550 registered voters questioned between Aug. 22 and Aug. 25, with 21 percent of those polled still undecided.

Related story: Ted Cruz Agrees To Debate Beto O'Rourke In Dallas: Report

Another intriguing aspect of the race resulting in hope for Democrats but prompting hand-wringing among conservatives is the amount of money O'Rourke has managed to raise. Between Jan. 1, 2017, and July 31, 2018, O’Rourke has assembled quite the war chest in raising $8 million more than Cruz, according to a Texas Tribune analysis of O’Rourke’s and Cruz’s campaign accounts and other entities that are part of Cruz’s fundraising network. All told, O'Rourke has raised $23.6 million to the incumbent's $15.6 million.

This, again, is unheard of for a Democratic challenger in deep red Texas.

Yet despite the closeness of the race so far and the robustness of the challenger's coffers, many political pundits already are predicting Cruz — the junior senator who's held the senatorial seat since 2013 who also ran for president in the 2016 election — will likely clinch the contest come November.

But what's impressive about this race to even the most hardened political observers is its competitive nature — which could bode well for the Democrats even if O'Rourke fails to clutch the brass ring. The contest is the first major Senate race to be competitive in a generation. That's not a typo: In a generation. Stated another way: Democrats haven't come within 10 points of winning either of the two Senate seats in Texas since 1988.

The race also is distinguished by the candidates' personality contrasts. The two couldn't be more different — Cruz more button-down and wonky compared to the more youthful O'Rourke known for his musical penchant given a past stint in a post-hardcore band. The latter also was recently filmed skateboarding outside a Whataburger in McAllen, Texas —something Cruz is never likely to be seen doing, anywhere.

Even if O'Rourke were to ultimately lose the contest given a political landscape long dominated by the GOP, some observers believe his coattails could be strong enough to propel a handful of House candidates to office.

Which brings us back to the town hall in Austin. The dynamics explained above will likely make for a lively two-hour exchange suffused with exuberance among progressives. And, really, who knows what might happen come November? In the current political age, more implausible things have happened. So anything is possible.

The O'Rourke town hall is scheduled at 2 p.m. at the Mount Sinai Baptist Church, 8500 Cameron Rd. On Wednesday, the congressman is scheduled to host a town hall in nearby Cedar Park starting at 9:30 a.m. at the Cedar Park Recreation Center, 1435 Main St.

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