AUSTIN, Texas — On the eve of Election Day, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and his Democratic challenger MJ Hegar (D) both traveled across the Lone Star State, hitting several cities. Both aimed to mobilize their bases.
Cornyn visited smaller towns like Laredo, Corpus Christi, Victoria and Dripping Springs, while Hegar stopped in big cities like San Antonio, Houston and Dallas.
Both candidates touched on major issues like jobs and health care.
"[Cornyn's] actions have been killing jobs. His actions have been – for us to be the 50th in the nation for access to health care for the entire 18 years he's been in office, and he likes to finger-point and blame other people," Hegar said at an event.
"Do you know how much the premiums for the Affordable Care Act have gone up the last six years? Fifty-seven percent in Texas alone. Your deductible, $3,000 for a family of four is $12,000. That's like not having any insurance at all," Cornyn said at one of his stops.
"He doesn't follow through and Texans are tired. The BS meter is pinging, and we are ready to hold people accountable," Hegar said.
"What we're seeing is an unprecedented attack on our way of life, on the Texas economy and on our freedom by outsiders who want to turn us into California. We're not going to let that happen on our watch," Cornyn said.
"When a third, a third of his nearly two decades in office had a majority in the House, had a majority in the Senate and the White House – if he wanted to protect Dreamers, Dreamers would be protected," Hegar said.
"We no longer are dependent on imported oil and gas from the Middle East. And we're helping our friends and allies around the world not depend on a single source of gas and oil from somebody like Vladimir Putin," Cornyn said.
KVUE spoke to Brian Smith, a professor of political science at St. Edward's University, about why the Senate race may be close this election. He said there are many reasons.
"First, the money. For once, the Democrats are actually on an equal, if not better, footing than the Republicans in terms of the spending game. That's why we're seeing so, so many ads for Hegar. So, that's something. Second is candidate recognition. Hegar has run for office before. She's not a nobody from nowhere. And the Democrats had run a bunch of candidates in the past with very little to no political experience. So, she has that big advantage. The third thing, of course, is the national trend. What we see here is Joe Biden's polling well in the state of Texas, which means other Democrats are. So, when you look at those three things together, that all portends to a very tight race," Smith said.
While Texas is one of six states that may decide the next president, the race between Hegar and Cornyn is certainly another reason the Lone Star State is being considered battleground territory.
"Well, because Texas is a battleground state, there's going to be a lot of outside money. You look at your own state, we're seeing that, you know, people from other states contributing to the Texas race. We're looking at more than $20 million spent here in the state of Texas because, 'If I don't have a competitive race in my state and I have money that I want to give, I'm going to give it to a place where it's competitive.' And so, Democrats, in particular, are looking at Texas and saying this is a real opportunity," Smith said. "'If we grab a Senate seat from Texas, that means the agenda in 2021 might be easier to pass with a Democratic majority. Also, if we grab this seat, we hold onto it for six whole years, six years is a political lifetime that the Republicans would have to try to build against.' And [if] you can knock out an incumbent like Cornyn, it's a real political victory."
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