Staff Writer

Texans who hate Donald Trump could propel Beto O'Rourke's Senate bid against Ted Cruz

Updated at 6:20 p.m. with color from Odessa event.

PECOS, Texas -- The elephant on the November ballot is Donald Trump, at least for many Democrats backing Rep. Beto O'Rourke in his bid to oust Sen. Ted Cruz.

They hate him. They say he's a clown. Maybe even a traitor. The anti-Trump ardor is even stronger than the anti-Cruz sentiment. And even though O'Rourke himself doesn't frame the contest as a referendum on the president, in the minds of many supporters, it is.

"I want that old-school Republican. I want old-school decency," said Erica Esparza, 33, a stay-at-home mom rocking her 3-month-old son as she waited for O'Rourke's town hall at a Pecos civic center Monday afternoon.

She gives Trump some credit for a strong economy but condemns him for putting that at risk with trade wars, and for an immigration policy that includes "children being locked in cages" and for "the collusion with Russia. As much evidence as we know - they impeached Bill Clinton for a far lesser crime."

Voting against a politician is a time-honored American tradition, and often a factor in midterm elections, when voters get a chance to vent their anger with a president and his party.

“A lot of people have already sent a message to Trump, but he doesn’t listen,” said Benjamin Dominguez, 71, a retired TV technician in Pecos. Still, he said, Trump deserves another dose.

Trump has inspired J.T. Waters to partake in the custom. A 57-year-old IT professional in Fort Stockton, he only recently registered to vote for the first time, and intends to cast his first ballot ever in November for O'Rourke -- to register his dismay with the president and the senator.

"Cruz is the devil. He could do some long-lasting damage," Waters said, calling him an extremist who eagerly looks after corporate interests over those of ordinary Texans. "The thing I like best about Trump is that at least he's incompetent .... Trump's a clown but whatever mess he makes, we can clean up."

In Pecos County, which includes Fort Stockton, Trump collected 59 percent of the 4,185 votes cast in the 2016 presidential contest. Hillary Clinton won Reeves County, where the city of Pecos is the county seat, with 52 percent of the 3,184 ballots cast.

Republicans control the Senate by just two seats and midterm elections almost always mean setbacks for the party in power.

Democrats haven't pulled off a statewide victory in Texas since 1994. But O'Rourke has managed to pull within single digits in the most recent polls, and he's outpaced Cruz in fundraising by eye-popping margins. Handicappers don't list Cruz as endangered. But a stiff anti-Trump headwind could tip enough votes in a close contest.

One recent poll showed that fewer Americans support Trump than support the idea of impeaching him, a predicament that few presidents have faced.

On Day 2 of a 34-day driving tour across the vast state of Texas, O'Rourke drew an enthusiastic crowd of 33 people for a town hall meeting in Fort Stockton, including an infant. The El Paso congressman drew about the same size crowd in Pecos, but in fairness both were held during work hours and residents are pretty busy tending their ranches or scrambling in the booming oil fields. At an evening appearance in Odessa, a bigger city but one with a more solid Republican leaning, he drew at least 250 cheering supporters.

Jim Fletcher, who owns a company that processes frack water in the Permian Basin oil patch, came to the Odessa town Hall wearing a T-shirt that read: Haven't we taken the idea that "Anyone can be president" a little too far? 

"He's the worst thing that could have happened to this country, has no idea what he's doing. He's a narcissist," Fletcher said.

Measured criticism of Trump

O'Rourke is clearly no fan of Trump but takes measured pokes. Anything caustic would undermine the image he's cultivated of reasonable bipartisanship.

In Fort Stockton, he condemned Trump's characterization of the news media as "the enemy of the people" as "ugly and un-American," without even reminding voters that the phrase is Trump's.

When a voter asked if he supports impeachment, O'Rourke averred that "no person in this country is above the law." He emphasized that the special counsel inquiry should play out, and that nearly all lawmakers and the U.S. intelligence community agree that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 election.

"I don't know if one presidential campaign had anything to do with directing those actions, but I know that happened and I expect the president ... to stand with us and not to stand with the president of the power that sought to interfere," he said.

One volunteer at the event, Jeannie Norris, 66, an interior designer in El Paso who is a longtime friend of the congressman's mother and has known him since he was a boy, said she would be on board even if Trump weren't president.

"There's not one thing I like about Cruz, and that was before Beto" decided to run. "Trump? I cried when he was elected and it's only been worse than I thought. ... He's dishonest and cruel. When you lock up children and separate families, there's something wrong."

Asked in Pecos about trade policy, O'Rourke noted Texas' close ties with Mexico and that "one out of every four people that I represent is dependent on NAFTA."

"I'm afraid that this president, with some of these very erratic decisions when it comes to trade -- he may very well lose this important part of our economy," he said.

Impeachment talk

O'Rourke doesn't push the idea of impeachment, though he doesn't back away from it when asked by journalists or Texas voters.

Cruz is much more apt to broach the topic, using the possibility to rally Republicans since days after Trump took office. He has stepped up the warnings after the summit with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin prompted O'Rourke to reiterate his support for impeachment.

Whether he raises the topic or not, it's not far from the minds of his backers, and they're all for it.

"Absolutely. There's just so much with Russia. He's so guilty," said Roy Velasquez, 50, a business consultant whose family owns a 2,500-acre ranch west of Fort Stockton. "I'm shocked that our country would have chosen him."

John Carpenter, 80, a retired botanist who also turned out to see O'Rourke in Fort Stockton, said Barry Goldwater was the last politician he actually cast a ballot to support. All since then have had opponents he just wanted to keep out of office.

"I don't like white trash representing the United States, and rich is not what defines class," he said.

But he doesn't need strong views about the president for O'Rourke to collect his vote in November. His views toward Cruz are plenty strong, too.

"We've had some really bad senators in Texas, but Cruz is the worst. He's dishonest and he's so darn mean," Carpenter said. "Christ says take care of the widows and orphans. When you see a stranger, take him in."

Cruz support

Trump beat Clinton by 9 percentage points in Texas, a healthy enough margin in many states but anemic compared with most GOP nominees in recent decades. Still, he has his fans, and Cruz certainly does.

In Fort Stockton, Dolores Blanco Flores, who works at a job placement agency, argued with O'Rourke and Carpenter over the Republican tax cuts which she says have put more money in her pocket. She supports Cruz and said she left the Democratic Party "because they believe in socialism and redistributing the wealth" but wanted to hear the congressman because "you don't know who's going to win."

She didn't vote for Trump two years ago but says that now, his endorsement would help Cruz win another term.

"When he says something, he does it, and that's what I like," said Flores, a distinct political minority at O'Rourke's West Texas events.

In Pecos, Esparza said Cruz's ongoing support for Trump despite the mudslinging of their 2016 campaign, and his refusal to denounce the president ever, marks him as a disappointment compared to such GOP luminaries as Sen. John McCain.

"He doesn't criticize Trump at all. I see it as cowardice," she said.