AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- College lecture halls up and down Texas' "Blue Spine" attracted a who's-who of national progressive icons this week -- Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez headlined rallies with Greg Casar and Beto O'Rourke to drive youth turnout, spreading an unapologetically progressive message from which most Democrats running statewide in Texas have shied away.
Colin Allred and Kamala Harris, for example, campaigned against fracking and for a Medicare-for-All plan when running in Democratic primaries. This year, they are taking a more tempered approach, casting themselves as moderates who pose no threat to Texans' gas or guns.
But Bernie Sanders thinks the progressive message is a winning one. He sat down with Nexstar for an interview ahead of his rally in Austin on Wednesday.
"We don't think Texas is quite so red," he said. "We think Texas has huge potential to become a more progressive state. You have a lot of young people, a lot of working-class people, you have a strong trade union movement. And I think people right now want to fight for a nation and a government that works for all and not just the few. That's what I'm seeing here in Texas."
Addressing the East Austin crowd of about 400 after raucous speeches from O'Rourke and Casar, Sanders said, "As goes Texas, so goes the country, so goes the world."
Democrats have been eating away at Republican margins in Texas' presidential elections for more than two decades. In 2012, Mitt Romney won Texas by nearly 16 points. In 2016, Donald Trump won by 9 points. In 2020, he won by less than 6.
If Harris were to pull out a victory in Texas, of course, that's ballgame. But neither presidential campaign is trying to win Texas this cycle.
The Senate race is the real nail-biter. Dallas Congressman Colin Allred is mounting a formidable challenge against two-term incumbent Ted Cruz, with many polls within the margin of error and most showing a 3-5 point lead for Cruz. Polling aggregators like the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections have shifted the race closer to Allred's corner in recent weeks, from "Likely Republican" to "Lean Republican."
Sen. Cruz, for his part, is taking nothing for granted. He's embarking on a bus tour to Republican areas this week, hitting Richmond, Longview, Keller, Allen, Waxahachie, and Huntsville. He's warning his national fanbase of conservatives that he may be in trouble.
"We're being massively outspent, and so I'm so grateful for everyone watching who goes to tedcruz.org, tedcruz.org, makes a contribution of 25, 50, a hundred dollars. We are being massively outspent," Sen. Cruz said on Hannity after the vice presidential debate Tuesday. "We have had now two polls in the last two weeks that show this as a one-point race, and in fact, we've had two polls that show the Democrat winning because Chuck Schumer is spending so much money. It's why I need so many of your viewers to go to tedcruz.org right now and support us."
On that note, Sen. Sanders says it's time for the national Democratic Party to play harder in Texas.
"In general, and I speak as an independent, the national Democratic Party is not doing enough, in general, to organize at the grassroots level, working-class people and young people who are going to lead the fight against corporate greed and create an economy that works for all of us," he said. "We can do a lot better. We can rally people around that message. We're going to win here in Texas, win all over the country."
