A Changed Convention
But time is at a rare premium at this year’s shortened virtual conventions, which will resemble infomercials far more than the customary pep rallies.
“To be perfectly blunt, there’s no way that a virtual convention can have the impact that our traditional convention would,” said Rep. Filemon Vela of Brownsville, who’ll be watching this one from his living room.
Even Vela, Biden’s first congressional backer from Texas, will have at most 30 seconds of exposure Monday night as part of a video montage on how America will be better after Biden wins.
“This time next year, we won’t be losing a thousand Americans a day to a preventable virus. We’ll have a qualified, competent and compassionate leader who will undo the damage that Donald Trump has inflicted,” he says in his clip.
He brushed aside complaints about Texas getting overlooked, arguing that its political future won’t hinge on exposure at the convention but on widespread disdain for Trump, and a shift toward Democrats in suburban and, to a lesser degree, rural Texas.
The last time a Democrat won a statewide race in Texas was 1994. But demographic changes have been transforming the state, and a backlash against Trump in suburbia has accelerated the evolution from GOP fortress to purple battleground.
O’Rourke held Sen. Ted Cruz below 51% two years ago, coming within 2.6% of toppling the conservative incumbent.
Trump’s 9-point win over Hillary Clinton was the worst showing for a GOP nominee in Texas since Carter beat Gerald Ford, and a growing pile of polls shows a dead heat in Texas between him and Biden.
“It’s a shifting wind in Texas,” said Brian Lemek, executive director of Brady PAC, which is backing dozens of Democratic candidates for Congress and the Legislature who support stronger gun laws. “Texans want to feel safe. They want health care. They want good education. They want their guns but they want to feel safe from gun violence. I mean, these aren’t absurd requests.”
