Texas's Blue Betrayal: How Democrats Abandoned Their Last Hope for Senate Control

Democrats are scrambling to make last-minute investments in the Texas Senate race as the party faces long odds to keep their majority in the chamber.

The Chuck Schumer-aligned Senate Majority PAC announced a new $5 million ad investment in the state on Thursday, with less than two weeks left in the campaign.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has spent approximately $13 million on television advertising in the race so far, according to a DSCC aide, and is expected to spend “several million more” in the final two weeks of the race. And Kamala Harris is headed to the state on Friday for a rally with Democratic candidate Rep. Colin Allred.

It’s an eye-catching showing of support given the difficulty Democrats have faced in Texas. With other races for Senate Democrats looking bleak, particularly in Montana, there’s hope that Texas could be the key to keeping control of the chamber.

Recent polling showed Allred within striking distance of incumbent GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, leading some Democrats to sound the alarm that the national party could be missing a historic opportunity to flip the state.“We’re all working really hard to make sure that Colin pulls this off,” said Democratic Texas Rep. Greg Casar. “But if he does, then Colin and Texas really did it on our own, without the level of national help that I think we really deserved.”

The once deep-red state is one of the party’s only chances to pick up a Senate seat this year, alongside Florida, which is seen as perhaps an even more difficult landscape for Democrats. If Allred loses by a small, seemingly surmountable margin, there’s going to be a whole lot of regret and finger-pointing. Even the latest round of investments could be seen as too little, too late.

Some in the party have been calling on officials for weeks to step it up and throw everything they’ve got at the state.

“I want to see all the resources we can get for Colin Allred,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said.

“He is within the margin of error, and I think this is our best chance in years to win a Senate seat in Texas.”