Express News Jeremy Wallace Oct. 8, 2018
The importance of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz to President Donald Trump is impossible to miss as the White House unleashes an all-out defense of the Texas Republican.
First, it was Ivanka Trump in Houston touring NASA with Cruz in late September. Then week it was Donald Trump Jr. vociferously defending Cruz at a pair of rallies in Texas on Oct. 3. On Monday, Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to arrive in Dallas to campaign with Cruz.
And on-deck is the president himself, who has promised to hold a rally in October for the Texas Republican he bitterly fought for the presidency just two years ago.
While it looks like a mission to save Cruz — who is in a surprisingly close battle with U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke — political experts say the real concern is that if Cruz loses, Trump will face a Senate even more hostile to his policies.
“They know his seat is absolutely required to hold the majority†in the U.S. Senate, said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University.
Democrats need to pick up at least two seats currently held by Republicans in the 100-member U.S. Senate in order to take back the majority in that chamber. Democrats have mostly been eyeing seats in Arizona and Nevada as their best prospects. But O’Rourke has changed that calculus as he’s raised more money than Cruz and surged in polls. If O’Rourke pulls off the upset, Democrats would need only one more seat to retake the majority in the Senate.
That concern is clearly on the mind of the Trumps. In Wichita Falls with Cruz, Donald Trump Jr. warned that if Democrats retake the House and Senate, his father could be left working with Democrats Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and Chuck Schumer as Senate Majority Leader.
More:
https://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/Mission-to-defend-Ted-Cruz-becomes-Trump-family-13293882.php
