In an upset of national significance, Ted Cruz toppled Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on Tuesday in a Republican primary runoff for the U.S. Senate that came to embody the internal tug-of-war between the GOP establishment and the tea party.
Cruz, a former state solicitor general who has never held elected office, became a national cause célèbre for tea party activists.
He received significant support from conservative groups and leaders, including former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, who cast Dewhurst as a squishy, tax-and-spend moderate.
Dewhurst’s substantial financial resources — he put $24.5 million of his personal fortune into the race (and later reimbursed himself $5.5 million from contributions) — and support from top Texas Republicans such as Gov. Rick Perry could not overpower the grass-roots tea party enthusiasm for Cruz.
Hundreds of Cruz supporters packed a Houston hotel ballroom to cheer their candidate, whom few voters knew when he started his upstart campaign last year.
“They said I couldn’t do it. You know what? They were right. I couldn’t do it, but you could. And you did. Tonight is a victory for the grass roots,” Cruz said during his victory speech.
“This is how elections are supposed to be decided, by ‘We the People.’ ”
No one, but no one would have predicted this one a month ago. I’m not surprised. Texas is fed up with politics as usual. Prezzy Hopey Changey might want to take note…Texas will go blood red in November (not pink).
August 1, 2012 at 7:55 am
How do you feel about this? I don’t know anything about either candidate
August 1, 2012 at 8:43 am
The Tea Party has become very unhappy with the GOP in Texas. This was a message to the GOP, and now they are going after Cornyn’s seat now.
I’m happy for the many that ran with the grassroots which is now the Tea Party. But it really is not the Tea Party per se. Texas is huge. A lot of it is still rural. Many of those folks aren’t with the Tea Party as an affiliation. They are however sick of the bs that flies in Washington. These are the people who deal with the free border area. They are equally as tired of the pandering from the GOP to special interest groups.
We’ll see how Cruz pans out Anthony. From everything that I have heard, he is not the status quo politician. The man is a worker (smart too). I like to hear from those that have had dealing with the man. Everyone that I have spoken to say that he just tells it like it is and doesn’t try to smother hopey changey to anything. He’s probably going to have a difficult time in DC if this is the case. Time will tell.
I will watch the actions, not the mouth.
August 1, 2012 at 4:24 pm
“This is how elections are supposed to be decided, by ‘We the People.’ ”
This statment alone gets Cruz my vote-of-confidence.
August 1, 2012 at 5:07 pm
I don’t know how it will all pan out Mary, but I think it is time to change the way things are done in DC. I’t really should never be forgotten that this country was founded by “we, the people.”