Name: Republicans Are Meddling In Texas’ Democratic Senate Primary
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Republicans Are Meddling In Texas’ Democratic Senate Primary

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×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars meddling in the Democratic primary to face him, airing television and radio advertisements to boost a state legislator over Washington ’ preferred candidate.Tuesday’s runoff election pits Air Force veteran M.J. Hegar against long-time state Sen. Royce West, with the winner set to face Cornyn, the second-highest ranking Senate Republican, in November. Democrats, looking at both an increasingly favorable national political climate and demographic and ideological changes throughout Texas, are cautiously eyeing the race as a pick-up opportunity as they seek to overcome ’ 53-47 advantage in the Senate. Advertisement“Democrats, independents and Republicans are just, frankly, disturbed by where the president has led this country,” West said in a phone interview, expressing confidence in the ’s ability to win the state at the presidential and Senate levels in November. “We’re going to have to nationalize this race.”AdvertisementOn Sunday, the Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas at Tyler showing Hegar with a 35% to 22% lead over West, with both candidates getting little recognition among the broader electorate and both trailing Cornyn by double digits. Here's the TV ad that 's campaign is going up with tomorrow, similar to the attack ad that it first ran against last summer: — Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek)Cornyn’s spending highlighting West is far greater than the amount West has been able to spend himself. The most recent Federal Election Commission report shows he had just $160,000 in the bank, compared to Hegar’s $1.6 million.AdvertisementHegar’s money advantage would be enough to make her a clear favorite in the contest, but she also carried a larger share of the vote after the first round of primary voting in March: 22% to West’s 15%. “With an abysmal approval rating and facing the toughest reelection of his political career, Sen. John Cornyn is so desperate to not run against decorated combat veteran and working mom M.J. Hegar that he is meddling in the Democratic runoff election,” said Amanda Sherman, a Hegar spokeswoman. Much of Cornyn’s spending appears aimed at boosting West, who is Black, with African-American voters. A Democrat tracking media buys noted much of Cornyn’s radio spending is in Beaumont, a small media market with a significant Black population, and that he’s purchased significant ad time on BET.West has received notable endorsements from a host of Black political figures: Reps. Jim Clyburn (S.C.) and Cedric Richmond (La.) have both endorsed him, as has Benjamin Crump, the attorney who represents the families of George Floyd and other Black victims of police violence. In the weeks since Floyd’s death, West’s campaign has picked up momentum and emphasized his role in writing Texas’ first police body camera law and other criminal justice reforms. West’s own advertisements attack Hegar for her past as a Republican, noting she voted in the 2016 GOP primary. (Hegar has said she voted for Carly Fiorina as a way to block Trump from getting the GOP nomination.)Advertisement“We need a real Democrat to stand up to Donald Trump,” a narrator says in one West ad.Hegar, who is making a joint ad buy with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and also has air cover from EMILY’s List, is greatly outspending West on television, where her ads have included a 30-second spot expressing her own support for the Black Lives Matter movement.“We stand together against the systemic racism that has hurt Black Americans for far too long,” Hegar says in the ad. AdvertisementMcGrath ultimately won the Kentucky contest, following victories by DSCC-backed candidates in Iowa, North Carolina and Colorado.AdvertisementTo stream NBCU shows featured in this piece sign up toSuggest a correctionNewsletter Sign UpHuffPost's top politics stories, straight to your inbox.Successfully Subscribed!Realness delivered to your inbox

×U.S. EditionPart of HuffPost Politics. ©2022 BuzzFeed, Inc. All rights reserved.×Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars meddling in the Democratic primary to face him, airing television and radio advertisements to boost a state legislator over Washington ’ preferred candidate.Tuesday’s runoff election pits Air Force veteran M.J. Hegar against long-time state Sen. Royce West, with the winner set to face Cornyn, the second-highest ranking Senate Republican, in November. Democrats, looking at both an increasingly favorable national political climate and...

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Republicans Are Meddling In Texas’ Democratic Senate Primary

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