Another internal poll, another close race.
Colin Allred
Texas Rep. Pete Sessions’ re-election race is looking increasingly competitive, with Democrat Colin Allred polling close to the longtime Republican lawmaker, according to a new internal Democratic survey.
The Dallas-area 32nd District is traditionally GOP territory. But this year’s race is considered competitive, in part because the 32nd is one of three Republican-held districts in the Lone Star State that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race a Toss-up.
Sessions led Allred 47 percent to 45 percent in the initial head-to-head matchup, according to the polling memo shared first with Roll Call.
The poll, conducted by GBA Strategies, also showed both Sessions and President Donald Trump with low favorable ratings. Forty-one percent of those surveyed viewed Trump favorably while 38 percent had a favorable view of Sessions.
Twenty-three percent viewed Allred favorably, but only 15 percent viewed him unfavorably, signaling that respondents might not have strong opinions of the Democratic nominee or know much about him.
Standard disclaimers about internal polls apply, and as always it’s just one data point. The main thing I take away from these and other Congressional district polls is that they offer corroborating evidence for the statewide polls we have seen and the closer-than-usual environment we are in. I hope we get enough of these to get a feel for what the trendlines might look like as well.
May be an internal but the cook report and inside politics have this race as a tossup. If a 22 year incumbent has a lower approval than Trump he’s got some big time problems. Major demographic shifts in the Dallas suburbs with minorities and moderate whites, and the growth of affluent college educated young professionals who live in uptown and midtown Dallas make this race a tossup. The only handicappers that don’t see this are the incumbent friendly professors from smu and rice.
Colin is an impressive candidate with a strong field team of staff and volunteers. Doesn’t hurt that he grew up in the middle of the 32nd district and went to Baylor, not exactly a left leaning college. The poll will keep the dccc investing in this race. Colin will win the Dallas county portion. Question is does he get enough votes banked in dallas to offset what Pete gets in Wylie and Sachse in the Collin county portion.
@asmith:
Ann Richards and Mark White went to Baylor, too. I doubt they garnered too many votes from Baylor alumni in their respective races.