The Texas Tribune reports that former Bush strategist and ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd announced today that he is considering an independent bid to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in 2018's midterm elections.
Dowd has been active in Texas politics with both parties for the past three decades, but has been most active from the late-90s on in Republican politics, having worked on both of George W. Bush's presidential campaigns. In 2007 he moved out of Bush's orbit over the Iraq War, and has used social media and his platform on ABC News to question the continued viability of the two-party system.
Should Dowd go forward with an independent bid for the Senate, he is not going to win. Republicans have won every statewide race in Texas since 1994, and even though Sen. Cruz's popularity in Texas decreased after his failed presidential bid, two years is a long time in politics. But there is a slim chance that he could narrow the margin between Cruz and the Democratic sacrifice, which would combine with Trump's reduced margin in the presidential contest to cause both sides of the aisle to begin ringing purple alarm bells and screaming about the "Austinization" of Texas.
As a Texan myself, I do think that there is a narrow chance that Texas could become more competitive over the next decade, but it isn't happening that soon, and it definitely isn't happening for a third-party.
- Greg.B
