Ted Cruz Makes Surprise Admission About James Talarico

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) gave a surprising take when asked about the upcoming Texas Senate race between James Talarico (D) and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R).

Speaking Wednesday on Sean Hannity’s radio program The Sean Hannity Show — guest-hosted by Texas Governor Gregg Abbott — Cruz admitted Talarico has a shot to defeat the controversial Paxton.

Paxton earned President Donald Trump‘s endorsement in May and went on to defeat longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the primary.

Cruz called the context between Talarico and Paxton “a real race”:

GREGG ABBOTT: Do you think that Jimmy Talarico really has a chance to win the race for the United States senate in the state of Texas?

TED CRUZ: So, look, unfortunately, I do think he has a chance. I think this is a real race. I think it’s going to be close. I think we’re going to win. I think we’re going to keep Texas red. But the polling right now shows this as a 1- or 2-point race.

The comments led Washington Examiner reporter David Drucker, appearing on MS NOW’s Morning Joe on Friday, to tell co-host Jonathan Lemire that the contest between Talarico and Paxton was “Paxton’s race to lose”:

Look, this is a very good Democratic environment, right? Voters are unhappy with Washington. They’re unhappy with the President and Texas, though very red, is not as blanket red as you might think when you look at a lot of the suburban metropolitan areas.

And you look at the fact that you have a very well-funded Democratic nominee in James Talarico, who’s very good at politicking and very good at parrying a lot of the attacks coming his way.

And you know what we saw in 2018, which was, I think the best way to sort of compare this, is that even in a state that had not elected a Democrat statewide in many years, and that streak has continued — Beto O’Rourke came within under three points of defeating senator Ted Cruz.

Voters were unhappy with Washington. They were unhappy with Trump. They were not satisfied with Cruz as their nominee at that time, because Republicans were particularly down on him coming out of that 2016 convention.

And here you have, again, a Republican nominee that people are not thrilled with. He’s got a lot of baggage. He is beatable. I would still say this is Ken Paxton’s race to lose, but it is tight and he can lose.

Watch above via MS NOW.

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