Senate

Cornyn: ‘All the money in the world’ won’t help O’Rourke win Texas

by Jordain Carney - 10/12/18 2:34 PM ET

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Friday brushed off a record-breaking fundraising haul from Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D), saying it won’t be enough for the Democratic challenger to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

O’Rourke’s campaign announced Friday that he raised more than $38 million during the third quarter, which ended Sept. 30. Cruz, who is seeking a second Senate term, brought in $12 million during the same three-month period.

{mosads}Cornyn — who has at times had a strained relationship with Cruz but is supporting his campaign — acknowledged that O’Rourke raised “a lot of money,” but he predicted Cruz will still win when voters head to the polls on Nov. 6.

“I think all the money in the world is not going to help Beto at this point because I think he is self-identified as a national Democrat, which means he’s way too liberal to get elected in Texas,” Cornyn told reporters.

O’Rourke, who was elected to the House in 2012, has pledged not to take money from PACs in his Senate bid. In a video posted to Twitter he said the third-quarter funds came from more than 800,000 contributions.

Cornyn said “adoring [media] coverage” explains part of the enthusiasm for O’Rourke’s campaign.

“He’s obviously captured a lot of people’s imagination and the ability to raise money through these portals — like ActBlue, small donations — is obviously allowed him to raise a bunch of money,” Cornyn said. “Good for him, but I still don’t think he’s going to win.”

O’Rourke is considered an underdog in his race against Cruz, despite his fundraising numbers.

A survey from Quinnipiac University Poll released Thursday found Cruz with a 9-point lead. It’s the same edge Cruz had in the same poll three weeks ago.

Cornyn said the poll is “probably in the ballpark” for the race, but predicted Cruz will “win by double digits” next month.

Cruz has a 7-point lead over O’Rourke in the race, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polling.

Cruz and O’Rourke have been locked in a tighter-than-expected campaign for months, bolstering hopes among Democrats that they might be able to flip the seat.

In addition to Texas, Democrats are trying to pick up Senate seats in Tennessee and Arizona, where GOP Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.) and Jeff Flake (Ariz.) are retiring from Congress. They’re also hoping to unseat Sen. Dean Heller (Nev.), the only Senate Republican up for reelection in a state won by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R) is leading the Tennessee race by more than 5 percentage points on average, according to RealClearPolitics. But a New York Times/Siena College poll released Friday had up her 14 points over Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen, a former governor of Tennessee.

Cornyn added on Friday that he was feelingly “increasingly optimistic” that Republicans would hold their majority in the Senate, where they currently have a 51-49 advantage over Democrats. He pointed to Tennessee as well as races in Missouri and North Dakota, where Democratic Sens. Claire McCaskill and Heidi Heitkamp, respectively, are up for reelection in states that President Trump won by double digits in 2016.

“All of the races seem to be moving in our direction,” said Cornyn, who gave some credit to the recent confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “I just think the Kavanaugh hearing was important. But it’s not just that, but the realization of who would be in charge if, in fact, Democrats did win the majority.”