Democrats plan to run Joaquin Castro against Cornyn in Senate Race

Hot Air:

It appears Texas Democrats are hoping the 2018 Beto-mania (which failed – but gave them hope) transitions into Joaquin-mania in 2020.

There’s a lot of tea leaf reading going on – but Texas Monthly is pretty sure San Antonio Congressman Joaquin Castro is going to challenge U.S. Senator John Cornyn.

“We’ll be making an announcement in the very near future,” said Matthew Jones, Castro’s campaign adviser.

“This instantly makes the race very competitive,” Bill Miller, an Austin lobbyist and longtime political observer, said of Joaquin’s potential entry into the race. Running in tandem with his brother, who announced his candidacy for president on January 12 in San Antonio, would only benefit both candidates, Miller said, and “doubles up on all the positives.” When asked if Cornyn was vulnerable, Miller said, “Every Republican senator up for election next year is vulnerable.”

“This is quite an important development,” said Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia. “Beto proved Texas can be competitive, and this means that Cornyn is really going to have to work hard to raise money and work hard to earn votes—and Republicans in Texas are not used to doing that.”

I’m not sure I buy the notion O’Rourke’s almost success against Ted Cruz means Castro will suddenly make Cornyn’s re-election uncertain (although anything is possible because it is politics). The main factor hurting Cruz is the fact he’s Cruz – and a figure who rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Multiple conservative friends of mine were livid at Cruz last year because they believe he had changed from the person they supported in 2012. Traditionally Republican Texans were also turned off by his Patrick Henry-esque approach to campaigning and rhetoric – something I like, for the record – and his sometimes unwillingness to play nice with his own party.
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I think both of the Castro twins are overrated.  They are both intellectual lightweights who will not have much of a base of support outside of San Antonio.