I love both these guys so much:
U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke joined Austin legend Willie Nelson at the annual Willie's Picnic on Wednesday night.
O'Rourke, an El Paso Democrat running for Sen. Ted Cruz's seat in the fall, tucked an "I Love You El Paso" T-shirt into his pants. Strumming a guitar, he sang "Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die" — a message on brand for famous pothead Willie Nelson and O'Rourke's pro-marijuana legalization stance.
After they finished that song, Nelson shouted out, "Thank you Beto!" He kept the weed theme going as they rolled into the next song, "It's All Going to Pot."
We all needed that. This race is heating up and recent developments are making it a high profile race. First, there’s the Supreme Court:
The power of consent for Supreme Court nominees is one of the Senate’s greatest powers, and now — after a controversial change to Senate rules last year — the chamber's Republicans have the numbers to potentially confirm a nominee over unified opposition from Democrats.
For Republicans, the Supreme Court vacancy represents an opportunity. For Democrats, it has inspired fear. And for the U.S. Senate race in Texas, it has already become a rallying cry.
The Texas Republican Party opened its latest fundraising email Friday morningwith a call for donations to Cruz in light of the court vacancy. A day earlier, Cruz’s campaign sent out its own pitch to supporters for funds to ensure Republicans retain their Senate majority.
“If we lose the Senate, we will lose the opportunity to approve the nominations of strong Constitutionalists to the Supreme Court and other important positions. This is why we need your support. These are the stakes,” the Cruz campaign email reads.
O’Rourke’s campaign, meanwhile, sent an email to supporters Thursday soliciting $3 contributions “to help our grassroots, people-powered campaign be a check on Trump’s Supreme Court pick.”
And yes, Trump’s administration is turning to Cruz for help:
Sen. Ted Cruz was in the middle of a campaign stop on Thursday afternoon, walking through a local factory here where workers build custom truck trailers and parts, when an aide suddenly approached with his iPhone.
Vice President Mike Pence on the line, and for about 15 minutes, Cruz, the outspoken tea party conservative and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ducked into a partially shaded alcove seeking shelter from the oppressive Texas heat. And Pence talked to Cruz about an issue that may ultimately consume every bit of political oxygen in coming months: President Trump’s looming decision on who he will nominate to be the next Supreme Court justice.
Trump has said he will announce his pick to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy on Monday, setting the stage for a political fight that could not only could transform the nation’s top court for a generation but also impact the coming midterm elections where Republicans are fighting to keep majority control of Congress.
While much of the focus has been on moderate Republican lawmakers, like Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, the White House has equally been focused on staunch conservatives like Cruz, who could also make or break Trump’s potential nominee.
Cruz, who is facing a tough reelection battle in Texas, said he had spoken to the president several times on the issue of the Supreme Court — most recently in a 30-minute conversation over the weekend. The junior senator from Texas has thrown his endorsement to Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, a fellow conservative and close friend who was confirmed last week to be on Trump’s shortlist and has been interviewed for the job.
Second, immigration & the ICE:
Among those explicitly calling for the end of the agency is U.S. Rep. Al Green of Houston. In a statement Monday night, Green said the family separation issue has "placed a stain on our Nation's global image" and that it was time for a new agency, much like when the Immigration and Naturalization Service was ended in 2003 and its functions were handed over to other entities, including ICE.
"The state of immigration and enforcement must continue to evolve," Green said. "It is not perfect, and we must not mistakenly believe that ICE is where the buck stops. Just as INS was abolished to create ICE, we should abolish ICE to create an agency that is better balanced between immigration and enforcement; such that enforcement is not overemphasized and immigration is not de-emphasized. I support just and balanced enforcement through comprehensive immigration reform, not open borders."
Politically, the issue has already flared up in the U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso. Asked about abolishing ICE Friday at a town hall in San Antonio, O'Rourke discussed the need to eliminate fear in immigrant communities under Trump and to find a better way to enforce immigration laws. “And if that involves doing away with this agency, giving that responsibility to somebody else, changing how this agency performs, I’m open to doing that,” O’Rourke said.
Yet he went on to flatly answer no when directly asked if he would abolish ICE, explaining that he does not currently know enough about how immigration law would be enforced without the agency.
“I understand the urgency of this,” O’Rourke said in conclusion. “I just want to make sure that we’re constructive in how we talk about meeting this challenge and that I understand what abolishing ICE would mean in terms of enforcing our laws going forward.”
And here’s why immigration matters:
Trump got elected promising to wall off America’s entire southern border. His hardline immigration policies are popular with the party’s conservative base, especially in Texas, where Democrats haven’t won a statewide office since 1994.
But sounds of wailing toddlers separated from their parents and images of children held alone behind metal caging proved too much for Cruz and many in his party.
Democrats like O’Rourke, meanwhile, have flocked to Texas to tour detention facilities, decry what they see and attempt to keep the border in the news, figuring it will hurt the GOP in November.
If Congress fails to reach an agreement, though, the backlash could hurt both parties as the chaos both sides claim to oppose continues on the border.
WHAT TO WATCH
How, and especially when, will the thousands of immigrant parents and children still separated be reunited? What does Trump’s executive order mean in the long term for families? Could the order ultimately be suspended amid challenges filed in federal court, creating still more questions about border enforcement?
Will congressional Republicans and Democrats finally reach some consensus on immigration? If so or if not, can either side use the issue to seize momentum heading into the midterms, and will voters be swayed by the outcome enough to buoy candidates around the country that look like longshots, including O’Rourke?
DON’T MISS
Thirty-nine percent of Texas’ 28-plus million residents are Hispanic, the nation’s largest Hispanic population behind California. But only about 38 percent are eligible to vote.
Around 40.5 percent of eligible Hispanics statewide cast ballots in 2016, compared to nearly 63 percent of Texas whites. That’s a key reason why Democratic dreams that demographics will one day soon turn fiercely red Texas blue remain unrealized.
Ironically, O’Rourke, white and of Irish descent, grew up on the border in El Paso and speaks fluent Spanish, while Cruz, whose father immigrated to Texas from Cuba shortly after Fidel Castro took power in 1959, has only minimal skills en espanol.
And Cruz is in the hot spot as he tries to draft a deal with U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D. CA):
Mr. Cruz has introduced legislation that aims to speed up the asylum process, rendering long detentions unnecessary. His bill would double, to about 750, the number of federal immigration judges, and provide for expedited processing of asylum cases so that they could be resolved within 14 days. (Mr. Trump, a one-time nemesis of Mr. Cruz on the 2016 presidential campaign trail, has mocked the proposal.)
But Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, said that Mr. Cruz’ speedy timetable creates a “revolving door” that would makes it impossible for any asylum seeker to gather the facts and witnesses necessary to prove his case. And he complained that Mr. Cruz’s legislation includes no provisions for alternatives to detention, such as ankle bracelet monitors, which could be used to track migrants as they await court hearings.
“I don’t know how you bridge that view and Dianne’s view, which is much more narrow about making a policy that we don’t detain children, No. 1, and we do seek alternatives to detention,” Mr. Menendez said.
Ms. Feinstein has her own bill, a straightforward measure that simply bars the administration from separating parents and children, except in cases where the child is in danger. It is backed by every Senate Democrat. Republicans deride the bill as a “catch and release” plan.
“This is not what we need to do to enforce our laws and treat people in a compassionate and dignified sort of way,” Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, told reporters Tuesday.
We have a real shot here and we need to keep up Beto’s momentum. Click here to donate and get involved with Beto’s campaign.