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AUSTIN – In the Texas Senate race, Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz compete for young hearts and minds.
In appearance, O'Rourke wins.
During his week-long run on a dozen college campuses prior to Tuesday's voter registration deadline, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate has repeatedly attracted huge crowds. In Arlington, San Antonio and other places, rows of supporters were walking around the buildings, hoping to catch O'Rourke on his "Fight for Our Future" tour. It is planned to complete the North Texas Tour Saturday at Tarrant County College, El Centro College, Paul Quinn College and the University of Texas at Dallas.
But incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who usually attracts fewer crowds than his rival for months, has a story on his side.
Cruz warned that Mr. O. Rourke was supporting a "radical program" of tax increases, social medicine and impeachment of President Donald Trump. And for decades, the Texans who went to the midterm elections were a pretty conservative and old group.
In the last one, in November 2014, only 16.3% of registered voters in Texas had less than 40 votes. According to Ryan Data & Research, an Austin-based Republican consultancy, it has nothing to do with 54.3% of registered voters over the age of 60.
In a state that ranks last in voting, O'Rourke runs the risk of developing the electorate by attracting young Texans.
In a ballroom packed with 1,300 people at the University of Texas, Austin, on Thursday night, he revered young people.
"All the journalists who have just asked us for 33 days, which makes us talk to students when we know that young people are less likely to vote than the older ones in this community, I said it's there what happens the action. … the direction is, … the inspiration is, "said O & rourke to whoops and applause.
"Do not let anyone tell you [that] you are the leaders of tomorrow, "he said. "You are the leaders of this moment, do not you?"
Americans in their twenties and thirties "are particularly cynical about political parties," said political scientist Stella Rouse, of the University of Maryland, who studied young voters.
The participation rate has increased as Obama?
O'Rourke is trying to get the same increase in youth participation as Sen-Sen. Barack Obama has done so in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, said Rouse, co-author of a book that just appeared, The Politics of Millennials.
"Beto has a lot of parallels with Obama, not only in his political positions, but also in his ability to inspire and motivate, which can attract young voters," she said. "It remains to be seen if this will be enough to make them vote in the polls in November".
During his tour of the campus, where he made half of the 12 stops in North Texas, O'Rourke drew his shirts in brushed denim in half-hour or so. He would wear a Riverbats, Longhorn, Bears or Shorthorn baseball cap, but would have lost it because of overheating.
Many listeners have radiated approval. Mr. O. Rourke raised loud applause when he called for the creation of a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants, the legalization of marijuana, the adaptation of the school system to the prison and the elimination of corporate money and funds for special interest in elections.
"It gives us hope that the change will happen," Zairy Sanchez, a 20-year-old pharmacy student at Austin Community College, said on Tuesday as the tour began at Eastview's college campus in East Austin.
On Friday, at Baylor University, students lining up to get their picture taken with O'Rourke jumped in all directions, delighted to meet the three-member El Paso member of Congress and treat him like a celebrity.
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