Of course they would:
After news broke that U.S. Senate nominee Roy Moore had allegedly sexually assaulted a teenage girl in the 70s, Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn (who've heartily endorsed the Alabama Republican's nomination) are choosing their words carefully.
"These are serious and troubling allegations," Cruz said in a Thursday statement. "If they are true, Judge Moore should immediately withdraw. However, we need to know the truth, and Judge Moore has the right to respond to these accusations."
Cornyn, the second-ranking Senate Republican after Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, told reporters that "obviously, it's very troubling."
"I think people are trying to sort it out and figure out what the appropriate response is," Cornyn said Thursday, according to the Texas Tribune. "If it is true...I don't think this candidacy is sustainable, but we believe in a presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and so I think it's important for the facts to come out."
But neither Senator dropped their endorsement of Moore, who's hoping to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
If Senator Shitkicker and his idiot colleague don’t have the guts to disavow Moore, Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D. TX) is using their cowardice as a weapon for his campaign:
Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) Democratic challenger Rep. Beto O'Rourke (Texas) blasted Cruz in a fundraising email for supporting Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (R) in the wake of allegations that Moore initiated sexual contact with a minor decades ago.
"It's not that complicated, Ted Cruz: we're talking about potentially elevating a man who preyed on young girls to the U.S. Senate," O'Rourke wrote in an email obtained by the Dallas Morning News.
Moore on Friday resisted calls to exit the Alabama Senate race amid fallout over an explosive Washington Post investigation this week revealing allegations that Moore initiated sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl in 1979 when he was an assistant district attorney at the age of 32.
Moore has denied the allegations amid growing criticism from Republicans.
“I believe they are politically motivated. I believe they are brought only to stop a very successful campaign, and that’s what they are doing. I’ve never known this woman," Moore said Friday on Sean Hannity's radio show.
Cruz was among a number of GOP senators to throw their support behind Moore's campaign ahead of the December special election. Meanwhile, two GOP senators on Friday dropped their support for Moore's campaign as pressure grows over the sexual misconduct allegations.
This is a smart move on Beto’s behalf. Another smart thing O’Rourke has been doing is bringing the fight to Cruz’s home turf:
Democrat Beto O'Rourke this week brought his Senate campaign against incumbent Ted Cruz to Republican red Collin County, looking to catch a wave that would unsettle the Texas political scene.
"A reporter asked me earlier, and I'll paraphrase, how in the hell are you going to win this election?" O'Rourke told over 400 people gathered at his town hall meeting Thursday night at Plano Senior High School. "I don't have to do this. It's going to be all of us who does this."
If O'Rourke is going to win his underdog campaign against Cruz, the well-known junior senator from Texas just off a campaign for president, he'll have to hope that the energy and enthusiasm Democrats have enjoyed since the stunning election of Donald Trump translates into significant votes next November. And he'll have to avoid getting crushed in areas like Collin County, long a burial ground for Democratic Party candidates.
It's a tough task. The Texas suburbs that ring its major cities have propelled Republican candidates for decades, linking with the small towns and rural areas to form an unbreakable coalition. In 2012, Cruz beat Democrat Paul Sadler, 64 percent to 32 percent.
But Democrats in Collin County have had a renaissance of sorts, and they hope to make supporters out of the many residents who have moved into the area from places like California. There are more Democrats running for office in Collin County than there have been since the Ronald Reagan era, and grassroots progressive groups have vowed to make the area competitive for Democrats.
"The really good news is that it's happening right now. The people who are out here tonight, the folks who organized this ... are frustrated and excited and want to accomplish something bigger than they can do on their own, and they recognize that organizing is going to make it happen," O'Rourke told The Dallas Morning News. "We're finding that to be the case everywhere that we go. The wonderful realizing that we have is, we get to join something that is amazing in Texas right now. We don't have to lead it."
And Beto has been unapologetic with his campaign stances:
During a town hall meeting at UT Arlington with the UTA Democrats late Friday afternoon, O’Rourke attracted a standing room only crowd of 300 people inside a lecture hall.
O’Rourke says nearly 600 people attended a similar meeting in Plano Thursday night.
He’s got nearly $3 million in his campaign bank account, less than half than Cruz.
The Democrat says he isn’t taking PAC money and his campaign says he’s receiving donations from more Texans than Cruz.
The Congressman says he supports a single-payer healthcare system, operated by the government and funded by taxpayers.
He says he wants tax cuts for the working poor and middle class, not the wealthy.
O’Rourke believes his positions are popular.
“I think Texans get it. They’re well before the politicians and it’s really up to us to catch up and reflect that in the campaign’s we run and the way we serve and govern once we’re elected.”
This is going to be a tough campaign and the Beto knows he has to run an aggressive one to pull off a big win. So let’s help him pull it off. Click here to donate and get involved with Beto’s campaign.
And while you’re at it, click here to give Doug Jones’ (D. AL) U.S. Senate campaign boost.