Democrats Should Target Ted Cruz in 2024 – By Ed Kilgore (Intelligencer) / May 3, 2023
It’s no secret that Democrats face a “brutal” or “dark” landscape in seeking to hold on to their narrow 51-49 margin of control in the Senate. Of the 34 seats up for election in 2024, 23 are held by Democrats (or independents who caucus with Democrats) and only 11 are held by Republicans. Of the Democratic seats at risk during what is expected to be a close presidential contest, seven are in states carried by Donald Trump in 2016 and three are in states carried by Trump twice. Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema has left the Democratic Party (while still caucusing with it) and has triggered an unpredictable three-way contest in Arizona. Joe Manchin is in deep trouble, while Montana’s Jon Tester and Ohio’s Sherrod Brown will be bucking the partisan dynamics of their states.
Meanwhile, in contrast to all of this peril facing Senate Democrats, eight of the ten Senate Republicans up for reelection in 2024 are considered slam dunks; Republicans are also heavily favored to hold an open seat in Indiana. That leaves Rick Scott of Florida — an extremist nightmare in Congress but at home a shrewd politician who has won two gubernatorial races and one Senate race in environments more difficult than he is expected to face in 2024 — and Ted Cruz of Texas.
It makes abundant good sense for Democrats to put a bull’s-eye on Texas because Cruz is potentially the most vulnerable of a not very vulnerable batch of Republican incumbents. In 2018, Democratic congressman Beto O’Rourke came within 2.6 percent of the vote to upset Cruz. Of equal importance, the loathing in which Cruz is held among progressives nationally gave O’Rourke a massive small-dollar fundraising base. There’s no reason a credible opponent in 2024 couldn’t replicate that level of resources, particularly if the national party prioritizes the race.
CONTINUE > https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrats-should-target-ted-cruz-in-2024/ar-AA1aHpY4
