Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) Chair Gary Peters joined MSNBC’s The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart to discuss Senate Democrats’ “superior candidates” whose “Republican opponents can be characterized as either flawed or seriously flawed.” Chair Peters also discussed Senate Democrats’ offensive opportunities in states like Texas, where Colin Allred is running against Ted Cruz who “is clearly flawed — he’s not popular in Texas.”
MSNBC: The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart
August 25, 2024
Sen. Peters: What we have going for us is candidate quality. The same thing happened last cycle, if you recall. No one thought we could hold a majority and even expand it, which is what we did in the last cycle, and it was because of candidate quality. Our incumbents, our superior candidates — the candidates we have running also are superior to the Republican opponents. The Republican opponents can be characterized as either flawed or seriously flawed, depending on who they are, and we know that voters make that distinction.
Jonathan Capehart: This dovetails with candidate quality — the Democrats have a great candidate in Texas Congressman Colin Allred against Senator Ted Cruz. Is Sen. Cruz flawed enough — we see that they are within the margin of error, that race is tied — is Sen. Ted Cruz flawed enough for Congressman Allred to be finally that one person who actually turns one of the seats blue in Texas?
Sen. Peters: I believe he is. I’m very optimistic about that race. You talk about Ted Cruz, he is clearly flawed — he’s not popular in Texas. His polling numbers are weaker now than when he ran last time. You know, it’s kind of interesting, too. In our focus groups that we do, there are word clouds that come out of a focus group. The one word that pops out is “Cancun.” People in Texas remember what happened when the state was hurting and he was off on a trip. He is flawed, and Colin Allred knows how to win tough races. He won a Republican district in the Dallas area, he beat Pete Sessions, who had been around a long time. He’s got the background and the skills to win that race.
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