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FILE – On September 21, 2018, US Democratic Representative Beto O'Rourke takes part in a debate for the US Senate in Texas with US Republican Sen Ted Cruz in Dallas. Willie Nelson will hold a concert for Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke on Saturday, September 29, 2018. O'Rourke is a three-member El Paso member of Congress who is trying to upset Republican Senator Ted Cruz in November. (Tom Fox / Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool, File) (Associated Press)
AUSTIN, Texas – Undecided voters are unlikely to be in the crowd on Saturday night when Willie Nelson holds a concert for Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke.
In fact, it's hard to imagine a better personification of the liberal Austin that differs from most conservative Texas countries than a show featuring a rising Democratic star and a long-haired country icon who played with the party. since the administration of Jimmy Carter.
A Congressman from three El Paso members and formerly punk rocker trying to upset Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in November, O. Rourke moves openly to the Left, unlike other Democrats who participate to tight senatorial races throughout the country.
These include Phil Bredesen, a former Tennessee Democratic governor who has openly adopted the mantra of a moderate and distanced himself from his own party as he was trying to win a seat in a state. Trump, won two years ago by 26 points, almost three times his margin of victory of 9 points in Texas. Arizona Democratic Rep Kyrsten Sinema is also a candidate for the Senate as a centrist, despite his career as a Green Party activist.
O'Rourke also maintained the support of his national party, while respecting his more liberal views, not slaughtering them. He supports the legalization of recreational marijuana and a single-payer health care system, and has suggested that it be open to the abolition of the US Immigration and Customs Agency and to the the removal of President Donald Trump.
The second debate between Cruz and O'Rourke was scheduled for Sunday night at the University of Houston, but was postponed. During their first week in Dallas, the two candidates largely focused on the red meat issues that excite their bases while doing little to attract the moderates. O'Rourke said the Nelson event would not try to attract the electorate either.
"The concert is not a democratic event, a Republican event or an independent event," said Chris Evans, spokesman for O'Rourke. "It's an event in Texas and there is not much more Texas than Willie Nelson."
O & # 39; Rourke was already on this road, even taking the stage at Nelson's picnic event in Austin in July to play the guitar at the 'Will the Circle Be Unbroken' and 'I & amp; Fly Away. As the November 6 elections are imminent, the stakes are higher for the joint jam sessions this time around.
His strategy also breaks with those of the Texas Democrats who tried to portray themselves as moderates to fail miserably. When Wendy Davis used a Texas Senate buccaneer to defend the right to abortion and gain national prominence and run for governorship in 2014, she approved the open hand carry of handguns. It did not help, Republican Greg Abbott beat him by more than 20 points. In nearly 25 years, Democrats have not won any of Texas' 30 state offices.
Paul Sadler, a former underfunded state official whom Cruz has defeated by nearly 16 points in 2012, said only conservative Democrats could hope to overthrow a state like Texas. in 31 states. He said that Beto "reflected the more modern and young thinking within the Democratic Party".
"I'm not sure we're really calling these Liberal issues rather than simply reflecting the people we're supposed to represent," said Sadler.
At 85, Nelson is not young, of course. But he is a long-time advocate of the legalization of marijuana that has founded his own cannabis company for places where it is legal, with the exception of Texas, which only allows patients with refractory epilepsy.
Some critics have published online comments reprimanding Nelson for supporting a "socialist" and calling for a boycott, but Nelson ignored these remarks.
"I love flack," he said on ABC's "The View." "We are not happy" until they are not happy. "
His cannabis company, Willie's Reserve, responded to the Conservatives' call to burn Nelson's records by deadpanning on Twitter.
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