shows power of grass roots conservatism
The victory of Tea Party backed insurgent U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz in the expensive race for the Republican nomination will have far reaching ramifications, 1200 WOAI news reports.
The former Texas Solicitor General had lost the primary by a wide margin to David Dewhurst, but he bounced back on the heels of a massive conservative grass roots surge to defeat Dewhurst soundly in the Tuesday runoff.
“We did it!” Cruz told ecstatic followers at his campaign office in Houston when the results came in last night.
“They said this was impossible, we were at two percent in the polls,” Cruz crowed. “They said I couldn’t do it. And you know something, they were rights. I couldn’t do it. But you could!”
Dewhurst conceded defeat and other Republican leaders fell in line.
“It is extremely rare for a candidate who has never held public office to win a statewide race against a current statewide office holder,” Texas Republican Chairman Steve Munisteri said. “The fact that former Solicitor General Cruz was able to accomplish this, is a testament to his hard work, passion, oratory skills, and successful grassroots campaign effort.”
Cruz will face former State Rep. Paul Sadler in the November general election, but victory for the Republican in this very Red State is all but certain.
SMU political analyst Cal Jillson says winning may be the easy part for Cruz. He questioned whether the hard right Tea Party members who propelled Cruz to victory will give him the opportunity to do the hard work of compromise needed to be successful in the Senate.
“You can win an election, but when you get into the United States Senate with real problems demanding solutions, you may make a lot of newscasts, but you’re not going to be part of a solution,” Jillson said.
