Staff Reports
In a game of political cat and mouse, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has launched a cunning ploy to court Democrats, boldly starting a group called “Democrats for Cruz” to snag supporters away from his challenger, Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX). The move has sparked some serious eye-rolling from liberal representatives Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX), who couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of Cruz reaching across the aisle.
Escobar, with a twinkle of amusement in her eye, scoffed at the notion, saying that Cruz’s attempt to woo Democrats is about as convincing as a talking unicorn. She even boldly stated that Cruz should be shaking in his boots at the thought of losing support from the blue camp. But does Cruz seem fazed? Not in the slightest.
‘Democrats for Cruz’: Ted Cruz highlights support from Texas’s blue voters while others laugh him offhttps://t.co/5zFptPmwOW
— Great American Pie (Not a Taco) (@JuanNando0883) April 24, 2024
Cruz, with a sly grin, asserted that his record of bulldozing through bipartisan bills has been a game-changer for Texas. He’s confident that he can stand his ground as a staunch conservative while still playing nice with the other side. It’s like he’s saying, “I can be a lion and a lamb at the same time.”
Now, why is Cruz playing the bipartisan card? Well, it seems like he’s cottoned onto the fact that Texas might be morphing into a battleground where conservatives and progressives duke it out for dominance. Sure, Cruz may have romped to victory in 2012, but his narrow scrape with Beto O’Rourke in 2018 has surely rattled his cage a bit. It’s like he’s suddenly realized that Texas isn’t the guaranteed red state he once thought it was.
His close call in the last election has sent ripples through the political pond, making even seasoned watchdogs like Beth Cubriel believe that Cruz is starting to feel the heat. See, Cruz’s not-so-comfy margin of victory has sparked a fire under him, prompting him to roll out his silver-tongued narrative to win over more hearts and minds. And boy, oh boy, it’s a story that he’s eager to spin.
Now, let’s talk numbers. The Lugar Center, a group headed by former GOP bigwig Richard Lugar, has this nifty thing called the “bipartisan index.” It’s a fancy way of ranking how cozy lawmakers are with the opposite team based on the bills they sponsor and co-sponsor. And guess what? When it comes to this “bipartisan index,” Cruz hasn’t exactly been leading the huddle. In fact, he was down in the dumps in 2013 and is still barely trudging out of the doghouse in 2021.
The scoreboard tells a tale of “extremely poor” bipartisan behavior, lending some serious weight to the notion that maybe, just maybe, Cruz isn’t exactly a shining star in the world of bipartisan cooperation. So, while Cruz is busy flashing his bipartisan smile, the record seems to tell a different story. But hey, there’s always room for plot twists in the world of politics, and Cruz seems to be penning his own narrative, whether the skeptics like it or not.
