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"Ted is a champion of conservative causes," said Jeff Roe, Cruz's chief strategist. "He's a champion in Texas and he's a national champion. So, I do not think you should look for him to get away from his principles. "
A transformed political culture
Republicans have long claimed the pop culture of Texas – barbecues, country music stars and vans. Mr. O'Rourke embraced these symbols of Texas and recovered them for the Democrats, along with Willie Nelson, guiding his Toyota van built in San Antonio across rural Texas and post-debate punctuating the traffic lane from Whataburger. It was a clumsy counterculture to be a Texas Democrat. He made it cool.
Even before Mr. O'Rourke's close defeat, his yard panels had become one of the largest visible manifestations of blue Texas in a generation. His signs far exceeded Cruz's signs and helped convince the public, the media, and the Republicans, long before the polls showed a close race, that the change would occur. It was a mass revolt on the lawn. If you were a Democrat in Texas, the question this fall was, "Where's your sign?" So far, Republicans have rarely had signs of a building site – why bother with a sign when did you run the state? The strategy on political products should change in the future.
By 2020
There could be a follow-up to all this in two years.
Republican senator John Cornyn is due to be re-elected in 2020. Democrats are likely to reignite. Will it be Mr. O'Rourke? Nobody is certain.
Mr. O'Rourke failed to make a campaign for the Senate a well-funded, well-advertised and well-conducted campaign. Strategists are now asking a question: if he can not do it, then who can? And if not now, when? One of the other stars of Democratic Texas – Julian Castro, secretary of housing and urban planning of the Obama era – could be booked in 2020 because he is seriously considering running for president.
Could even bigger things be reserved for Mr. O'Rourke? He is that rare Texan democrat for whom even Republicans generally have good things to say. After the elections on Tuesday, an unlikely vote seemed to urge Mr O'Rourke to run in the presidential elections in 2020, even though he said he was not interested. This voice belonged to Mr. Roe, the chief strategist of Mr. Cruz.
"I do not predict Democratic politics, but the fervent followers that follow him on a national scale, do not compare to him on his side," Roe told the press at the Houston hotel lounge where M. Cruz held his party of victory. "Nobody does it, he's in a separate category in the Democratic Party, and if he does not use it to run for president, I do not know what he would do with it."
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