I have three things to say about this.
Colin Allred
Since moving to The Woodlands about two years ago, former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger — one of the most vocal GOP critics of Donald Trump — says he’s met several Texas Republicans who are just as uncomfortable with the direction of his party as him.
Now Kinzinger is trying to convince them to do the unthinkable and vote for a Democrat. Kinzinger is leading a group of Republicans supporting U.S. Rep. Colin Allred’s bid against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in one of the most hotly contested Senate races in the nation.
It is the latest effort by Kinzinger, who served on the House committee that investigated Jan. 6, to target Republicans involved in the effort to delay the certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory. Cruz was a key figure in the effort, objecting to Arizona’s electoral votes just before the mob breached the Capitol that day.
“When I talk to Republicans, I say, ‘Do you like where the GOP is now?’” Kinzinger said in an interview with Hearst Newspapers.
“There are some that do, and they’re going to vote for Ted Cruz,” he said. “But there are a lot that are embarrassed about where the Republican Party is that are holding onto this hope that, ‘Just after November, we’re going to wake up and come back to what we were.’ Well guess what, we’re not going to do that — particularly if Ted Cruz wins again, because he’s part of the reason we’re exactly in this position.”
Kinzinger, who withdrew from his reelection campaign in Illinois after his district was redrawn to pit him against a Trump-aligned Republican congressman, slammed Cruz for going from Trump’s “nemesis” in the 2016 GOP primary to his “chief supporter.” He argued Allred has no similar allegiance to his party or anyone in it.
“If the Democratic Party decided some day to go off the rails, similar to what the GOP did, I guarantee you, he would be like Adam Kinzinger or Liz Cheney, saying this can’t happen,” he said. Cheney, a Republican who also served on the Jan. 6 committee and is a vocal critic of Trump and Cruz, has also endorsed Allred in the race.
[…]
Kinzinger acknowledged Allred won’t win a majority of Republicans. But even a minority could help decide a close race.
“They’re ready to move on from him, and if we can win even a small percentage of that in a state like Texas, that’s the ballgame,” Kinzinger said.
[…]
The Republicans for Allred group also includes former state Rep. Jason Villalba of Dallas, who is co-chairing the group, as well as about a half dozen other former elected Republicans.
1. I somehow had no idea that Adam Kinzinger was now living in The Woodlands. I should try to interview him.
2. One of the big reasons why Democrats made such a huge stride forward in 2018 is that a whole lot of people who used to vote Republican started voting Democratic that year. You cannot explain the flips in CD07 and HD134, for example, without that happening. They’re far from the only example, and this didn’t just happen in Texas – it’s very much a national phenomenon, just as the migration of non-college-educated voters to the Republican Party has been.
Obviously, Dems did a million times better with turnout in 2018 than they did in 2014, or 2010, or 2006. Registering voters and developing a ground game have been vital as well. But the change in voter behavior, for which we saw a preview in 2016 and still saw remnants of in 2020, was a big factor. I don’t know if that well has been fully tapped yet – Adam Kinziger doesn’t think so, and I very much hope he’s right. The more right he is, the better Allred and other Dems can do.
3. The Cook Political Report has changed their rating of the Texas Senate race from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican”. Now, that and whatever the cost of a pumpkin spice latte is (sorry, not a coffee drinker) will get you a pumpkin spice latte. It’s still nice to see. The Trib has more.
I just saw a commercial with Kim Ogg endorsing Cruz. I guess she’s decided she has nothing to lose by burning that bridge.
“Kinzinger, who withdrew from his reelection campaign in Illinois after his district was redrawn to pit him against a Trump-aligned Republican congressman,”
I thought Kinzinger got a very raw deal there. I’m not going to blast TX GOPers for gerrymandering offenses but give IL Dems a pass. It’s a damn shame that good people like Kinzinger get forced out, but embarrassing clowns like Greene, Gosar, Boebert, Gaetz, and Nehls have things rigged in their favor.
“When I talk to Republicans, I say, ‘Do you like where the GOP is now?’ “
I see this as a big wild card in this election. How many establishment GOPers will keep their mouths shut in public, but once they get into the private voting booth with that secret ballot, vote for Harris/Walz, or at the very least do not vote for Trump/Vance?
Maybe the people in the Astros organization who are eligible voters may wish for a change:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/03/ted-cruz-curse/75495926007/
I can’t blame him for Rice’s flop last Saturday though.