Empower Texans October 11, 2018 by Lauren Melear
The race for Texas’ U.S. Senate is a battle between lofty rhetoric and policy results.
Democrats often tout a looming “blue wave†in Texas every election cycle. Yet, as seen in the recent victory of Republican Pete Flores in Texas’ dark blue Senate District 19, it may prove again to be nothing more than tough talk. Now, with less than two weeks until early voting, some are claiming a “blue wave†might be hitting a reliable voting block of Republican candidates: evangelical women.
According to exit polls from the 2016 election, President Trump received an unprecedented 81 percent of the white evangelical vote in the U.S. The share was even higher of Texas, at 85 percent. However, a recent New York Times article claims an increasing faction of white, evangelical women in the state are changing sides due to disapproval of Trump’s policies.
Specifically, the article titled, “Beto O’Rourke May Benefit from an Unlikely Support Group: White Evangelical Women,†looks at how this alleged anger toward Trump could affect down-ballot races, including Texas’ U.S. Senate race between El Paso Congressman Robert Francis “Beto†O’Rourke and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.
The claim is primarily based on an interview with five evangelical women in Dallas, all in their 30s, who—in an “act of rebellionâ€â€”have recently become vocal about their support for Cruz’s challenger.
The travel ban and “disrespect of women†were briefly mentioned as reasons for the switch, but the separation of families and children at the border is what they named as their hot-button issue.
“I care as much about babies at the border as I do about babies in the womb,†said one of the women. She goes on to confess that she was “mortified†at how she used to vote since the only policy she considered was abortion. “We’ve been asleep. Now, we’ve woke up.â€
More:
https://empowertexans.com/federal/orourkes-policies-will-hurt-all-texas-families-including-evangelical-women/
