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Congressman Beto O'Rourke, the El Paso Democrat hoping to oust Senator Ted Cruz in November, did not hesitate to talk about running. And the black voters notice.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released last month, 97% of black voters polled said they were in favor of O'Rourke.
"We do not expect anything for 97% in almost every category," said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at UT Austin.
Henson said there may be a slight irregularity in the poll, but overall, black voters have a base of support for the Democratic Party that has always been strong. So, he said, O'Rourke's support among black voters is probably as high – he's certainly not inferior to 80%.
"We expect the number of African Americans in terms of supporting Democratic candidates … to be very unbalanced," Henson said.
Black voters say they think O'Rourke's campaign has been successful, which Cruz's campaign has also noticed.
Last month, Cruz tweeted a video O'Rourke in front of a crowd of African Americans in a church in Dallas.
In Beto O'Rourke's own words #TXSenateDebate pic.twitter.com/uUzW7DSqgo
– Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 21, 2018
The crowd was standing cheering while O'Rourke was talking about what had happened to Botham Jean, a black man who had been shot dead in his house by a white policeman from Dallas.
"How can we continue to lose the lives of unarmed black men in the United States of America, in the hands of white police?" O'Rourke said. "This is not justice. It is not us It can and must change. "
While O'Rourke condemned the shooting and said he was denouncing a bigger problem facing blacks in America, Cruz said he was tired of drawing hasty conclusions about what had happened.
In his tweet, Cruz wrote: "In the words of Beto O 'Rourke," as if O'Rourke had made a huge misstep.
But black voters say that they are not mistakes.
"I think he's talking about issues that are at the heart of the problems blacks are facing," said Latreese Cooke, executive director and founder of the MELJ Justice Center, which works with incarcerated people.
Cooke said she was not surprised to see O'Rourke doing well among black voters. O'Rourke talks about police violence and race, she said, the kind of things politicians do with caution.
"People are afraid to talk about what's going on right now," she said. "People are a little more cautious about their feelings – especially because of that, because there is so much tension right now."
O'Rourke also spoke of the controversy surrounding professional football players kneeling in the national anthem in protest of police violence. In one viral video During an election campaign, the congressman told a member of the crowd that he could "think of nothing more American than to get up peacefully or to kneel to defend his rights anytime, anywhere, anywhere. "
"When he said that I was like," Yes! "Said Grant Loveless, a student at Austin Community College and a black activist in Austin.
Loveless said he appreciated the fact that Mr. O. Rourke acknowledged that life is harder for blacks in the United States than for many whites.
"We have to jump obstacles," he said. "We have to go trenching in the water just to get where we want to go."
In his first debate with Cruz, O'Rourke was questioned about his arrest when he was young. O'Rourke said it was a big mistake and he was grateful for having a second chance in life.
"As a white man in this country, I have the privilege of appreciating the fact that many African-American men and women in this country do not have it," he said.
Cooke said that she thought that the way O'Rourke spoke about these issues also had an impact on black voters like her. He knows he's probably upset some white voters, she says, but she's glad he's talking openly.
"I think that one of the things we fail as a society is to talk about it and talk about things in real time," she said. "And talk about it in a way that is not changed – or where you use cautious language."
Gaubrielle Pritchard – a black activist with the Austin Justice Coalition, who deals with racial justice issues – said it would be a bigger bargain if O'Rourke did not talk about these issues.
"I think it would have been a huge misstep and a huge disappointment if it had not been part of the story," she said.
Pritchard said she agreed that O'Rourke was saying all that was right, but she also wanted details and a plan to address these issues. She also said that she wanted people to blame her for not doing the right thing.
"It's all that," Beto will save everything, "she said," but we must also hold those people to account. So, if they say something with which you are not quite with, be sure to call them. "
Until now, the campaign has not been pushed back by black voters. Instead, polls show growing support for O'Rourke.
Peck Young, a professor at Austin Community College and long-time Democratic strategist, said that it's no wonder that O 'Rourke is doing so well with black voters, which is why it's so bad. he describes as "the backbone of the Democratic Party".
In fact, Young said, he is more surprised that the party as a whole does not reach black voters as consistently as O'Rourke.
"The problem is that many leaders around him and other parts of the state are still part of it." "We have to find the voter," he said. "Well, when 50 to 60 percent of voters vote for the brand – which is a direct vote," your first job is to find these people and make sure they are motivated on your side to vote. And the Democrats did not do it. "
O'Rourke's campaign says she works hard to make communities feel heard and understood. A staff member said that O'Rourke "does not deliberately fear these problems" because he understands that they are important to people.
The campaign also indicated that she was concentrating her efforts in the coming weeks for black Texas voters to be engaged and voting.
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