Ted Cruz

January 21, 2013

And the U.S. Senate Race Is On!

The five Republican contenders vying to replace Kay Bailey Hutchison participate in the first Senate debate in Austin.

January 21, 2013

Both Dewhurst and Craig James Release Rick Perry-Themed Campaign Ads

But only one of them has the advantage of Rick Perry's actual participation.

News & Politics|

January 21, 2013

What the Media Really Thinks About Craig James’ Senate Candidacy

The former SMU star and longtime ESPN analyst officially announced his intent to run on Monday, but the media's been discussing it for a week.

News & Politics|

January 21, 2013

Craig James Reportedly Riding Into U.S. Senate Race

The Dallas Morning News reported that the ESPN announcer and former SMU star will file for candidacy by Thursday.

January 21, 2013

Ted Cruz’s Excellent Adventure

Will a tea party darling be the state’s first Hispanic senator?

By Jake Silverstein

January 21, 2013

The Paul Sadler Interview

As the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate prepares for his final debate against Ted Cruz, he discusses why he thinks he can win, the state of the Democratic party, and what the word "troll" really means.

By Brian D. Sweany

January 21, 2013

The Kay Place

Kay Bailey Hutchison, the state’s senior senator and the first woman from Texas to hold that office, opens up about the changes in her party, why she decided to retire, and the governor’s race that got away.

By Brian D. Sweany

December 3, 2012

RedState’s Erickson praises Cruz choice for chief of staff

It’s Chip Roy, who was the chief ghostwriter for Rick Perry’s Fed Up! Erickson is especially impressedthat Cruz did not turn to a K Street lobbying firm for a chief, as many new members do. Erickson writes: [The decision] signals Senator-Elect Ted Cruz is not going to Washington

October 31, 2012

Will Texas be a Swing State by 2016?

Actress Eva Longoria and and Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa predict Texas will be purple in 2016 in an opinion piece at Politico.

By Sonia Smith

September 17, 2012

Will Ted Cruz Become a Washington Insider?

Mitch McConnell hosted a fundraiser for the Tea Party darling last Thursday, and U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn attended.

By Sonia Smith

July 30, 2012

PPP: Cruz +10

The race has been moving in this direction for months now. Nothing Dewhurst has tried has changed the dynamics of the race at all. If anything, the millions Dewhurst has spent on TV have hurt his own campaign. The China ad and the Kids for Cash scandal ad

July 23, 2012

The last debate is now history [see UPDATE, below]

Dewhurst gave his best performance of the campaign, but it may not matter. He still has a tendency to be stiff and wooden. It’s almost painful to watch him struggle to achieve fluency. Cruz has a big edge as a speaker; he reeled off points, “One…two…three…four.” It was good debating

June 22, 2012

ICYMI: A&M Lands a New NASA and the Other Talk of Texas

What was Texas talking about this week? Texas A&M's new biosecurity center, Ron Paul's chances at a VP nomination, Cruz and Dew's debate, and how far the Dallas Stars will travel next year.

June 18, 2012

Dewhurst’s new consultant

It’s Rick Perry. Well, not exactly. What has happened is that Team Perry has taken over the Dewhurst campaign. Dave Carney is in charge. Mark Miner has joined the communications team. Rob Johnson is heading up the Super PAC. Everyone understands what that means. It means that the Perry playbook

June 1, 2012

Dewhurst’s fatal mistake

Dewhurst has no business being behind the eight-ball in this race. His campaign should have wiped the floor with Ted Cruz.In late January, Cruz’s name ID was 40%. All Dewhurst had to do was stay with his message–that is, touting his record as a conservative light guv and basically ignoring

January 16, 2012

The problem for Republicans in Texas

This was Kate Alexander’s main takeaway from the Senate debate. I don’t think it was any surprise that the top-heavy favorite in the race was on the defensive. If anything, as I wrote in my report on the debate on Friday, I thought Cruz missed opportunities

January 13, 2012

The Empower Texans U.S. Senate debate: no clear winner

Tom Leppert’s pitch was that when he became the mayor of Dallas, the biggest problem was crime, and he brought it down by 31%. “I’ve been there, I’ve done it.” Good talking point, but not what is uppermost in the minds of primary voters. Craig James kept saying that he

October 3, 2011

Could Chinese patent case cause trouble for Cruz?

A commenter tipped me to this story that appears on a new San Antonio blog called Plaza de Armas. The bloggers are former investigative reporters for the San Antonio Express News and the Current. The gist of the story is that U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz, a well known attorney,

July 15, 2011

Is Dewhurst too complacent?

When I first wrote about the race for U.S. Senate, I said that there was no race, that Dewhurst has a huge lead in fundraising and name I.D. I still think that Dewhurst has the advantage over Ted Cruz, but, even in a state as big as Texas, there is

July 5, 2011

The Senate race

Is it even worth writing about? Dewhurst has the money and the name I.D. Tom Leppert has neither. Cruz has a great reputation as a lawyer but little else. Dewhurst has already driven most of the hopefuls out of the race and into contests for Congress–the worst job in American

January 27, 2011

Ron Paul: Texas’s next senator?

The Morning News reports that the Texas congressman is considering a run for the Senate. [I am having trouble with the link.] Paul is not going to be able to resist the chance to serve in the Senate alongside his son. If he runs, who is going to beat him? The guy with