Still don’t believe Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D. TX) can beat U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R. TX)? The New York Times shines a light on a group of folks who are breaking with the GOP: White Evangelical Women like Emily Mooney and members of her congregation:
In the Senate race, one of the most unexpectedly tight in the nation, any small shift among evangelical voters — long a stable base for Republicans — could be a significant loss for Mr. Cruz, who, like President Trump, has made white evangelicals the bulwark of his support.
To Democrats nationwide, who have largely written off white evangelical voters, it also sends a signal — not just for the midterms but also for the 2020 presidential campaign — that there are female, religious voters who are open to some of their party’s candidates.
The women, who are all in their 30s, described Mr. O’Rourke as providing a stark moral contrast to Mr. Trump, whose policies and behavior they see as fundamentally anti-Christian, especially separating immigrant children from their parents at the border, banning many Muslim refugees and disrespecting women.
“I care as much about babies at the border as I do about babies in the womb,” said Tess Clarke, one of Ms. Mooney’s friends, confessing that she was “mortified” at how she used to vote, because she had only considered abortion policy. “We’ve been asleep. Now, we’ve woke up.”
Ms. Clarke, who sells candles poured by refugee women in Dallas, began to weep as she recalled visiting a migrant woman detained and separated from her daughter at the border. When an older white evangelical man recently told her that she couldn’t be a Christian and vote for Mr. O’Rourke, Ms. Clarke was outraged.
“I keep going back to who Jesus was when he walked on earth,” she said. “This is about proximity to people in pain.”
Now there’s no guarantee yet how many white Evangelical women Beto will win but this is a telling sign:
Still, Ms. Mooney and her friends may represent an under-the-radar web of white, evangelical women in Texas whose vote in November may be more up for grabs than at any time in the recent past. They are angry with many of Mr. Trump’s policies, and frustrated because they feel their faith has been weaponized to support his agenda.
Sarah Damoff, who is a court-appointed special advocate for children, voted a straight Republican ticket after Kermit Gosnell, a Pennsylvania physician, was indicted in 2011 for murdering babies born alive in botched abortions. But she was moved watching Mr. O’Rourke sit with migrant women separated from their children, and reflected on her own vulnerability growing up with a single mother who was blind.
“How does my vote represent the little girl that I used to be?” she said. “The Republicans used to be the party of family, and morals and values, and now they are not.”
Kelsey Hency, who graduated from the conservative Dallas Theological Seminary, talked about how she had adopted a black infant as Mr. Trump swept the Republican primaries and had realized how much she needed to learn about race. “It brought the torrent of everything else,” she said. “When I look at Cruz, I think he sees Republican politics. When I look at Beto, I think he sees vulnerable people who need to be supported.”
Beto can make real inroads with this group of voters if we keep up the momentum for his campaign. Luckily, Cruz is giving Beto a great opportunity to really get his message across:
CNN is shining a light on three of the “most consequential races” in 2018 — including the Texas bid for U.S. Senate — through debates or town halls in the coming weeks.
But Texans won’t get to see incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso face off in this series.
“Sen. Ted Cruz (R) declined CNN’s invitation to participate in the town hall,” a CNN statement noted.
So O’Rourke will be featured in a live, one-hour town hall with CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash in South Texas on Oct. 18.
Let’s pull off another big upset victory. Click below to donate and get involved with Beto and his fellow Texas Democrats campaigns:
Beto O’Rourke
Lizzie Pannill Fletcher
Colin Allred
Gina Ortiz Jones
M.J. Hegar