DALLAS — El Paso Democrat Beto O'Rourke continues to out-fundraise Ted Cruz in their race for the Senate. But O'Rourke, who says he's on pace to raise $25 million by the election, still lags behind the incumbent Cruz in the polls.
Will O'Rourke's fundraising be enough to upset Cruz in the November election?
O'Rourke sat down with WFAA's Jason Whitely and the Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy for this week's edition of Inside Texas Politics to discuss his campaign efforts and what it will take to defeat Cruz. Check out the full interview above.
Here are the highlights:
Whitely: What will this race cost?
O'Rourke: Who knows, but what is incredibly encouraging is that we're raising this money without taking a dime from PACs (political action committees). No PACs whatsoever, no corporations, no special interests. In the last three months, 215,714 unique contributions were made to this campaign, an average contribution of $33, raising $10.4 million the right way, most of it from Texas.
Whitely: How much money do you need to defeat Sen. Ted Cruz?
O'Rourke: At this pace, we'll raise more than 25 million in this race. And that should be more than enough to reach everyone in every single of the 254 counties in Texas that we've been to so far, to amplify our message...I actually feel very good about the resources we have. This isn't rocket science. Democracy is thousands of years old, people connecting to and listening to people...and I'm very encouraged by the way Texas is responding.
Whitely: You have clearly crushed the senator with fundraising, but why haven't you been able to close the gap with polls?
O'Rourke: I don't know. The polls will range. Some show us eight points down, some show us two points down. Who knows what the truth is in 2018? Most have given up on polls...I listen to those 254 counties. We'll go to places like Cooke County (which voted heavily in favor of Donald Trump in the 2016 election). What matters is that before they're Republicans or Democrats, they're Texans, they're human beings who deserve to be heard and listened. We're showing up everywhere, listening to everyone. Who's with us? Who's excited? Who's open to doing something better for this state and country?
Kennedy: Congressman, you've left some positions unclear about revising ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), if not abolishing it. And now on impeaching Donald Trump. Are these positions that appeal to swing voters?
O'Rourke: I want to make sure we are living their values. Taking children away from their parents at a moment when they couldn't be more desperate, putting them in cages or sheltering them in tents in the Tornillo desert where it's 105 degrees – that's not Texas. That's not us. We won't solve it by abolishing ICE. What we will do, as the most diverse state in the United States, is we'll take the lead...on re-writing our immigration and asylum laws, so that they reflect our reality, our interests, our values. I want to stop the incarceration and separation of kids and families...and I want to replace it with something better that all of us write. Abolishing ICE will not do that.
"By that same token, there are some very dangerous things going on with our country on the international stage...For our president to take [Putin's] side over ours, demands a response. I think the best response now is to ensure the independence and integrity of the Bob Mueller investigation."
Whitely: Do you think these issues will be popular with swing voters you need to defeat Cruz?
O'Rourke: "I don't know, and it really doesn't matter to me. My day job is to be a member of the U.S. Congress and to serve this country. And 242 years in, we face, I think, our greatest test yet. Is the press the enemy of the people or is it their best defense against tyranny? Are we going to ban all people of one faith from the shores of this country? Will we side with our enemy on the international stage and compromise our elections and the integrity of our democracy? I'm going to do the right thing. and i'm going to make sure I look my kids in the eye, those people that I want to serve in Texas in the eye, and know that regardless of the polls and popularity or the consequences in the election, and know that we did the right thing while we still could."
Kennedy: There's been some criticism recently in the Texas Observer, saying you're not doing this the Democratic way, this isn't the way people usually get out the vote in the [Rio Grande Valley]. What did you think of that?
O'Rourke: The Democratic party for the last 30 years has consistently lost every single U.S. Senate race in this state. Since Lloyd Bentsen was the last win. We can continue to do the same things the same way and expect a different result. No less than Albert Einstein defined that as insanity. Or we can throw that playbook out the window and get after meeting our fellow Texans.
Go here to watch the full episode of Inside Texas Politics