Republican Beth Van Duyne, the previous mayor of Irving, Texas, has claimed victory in a race to switch Republican Rep. Kenny Marchant in Texas’
Republican Beth Van Duyne, the previous mayor of Irving, Texas, has claimed victory in a race to switch Republican Rep. Kenny Marchant in Texas’s 24th District, quashing Democrats’ hopes of choosing up the seat.
Van Duyne, who stepped down as mayor in 2017 to work within the Trump administration as a regional official for the US Division of Housing and City Improvement, had obtained an endorsement from the president and forged her Democratic opponent Candace Valenzuela as too liberal for Texas. She advocated for reopening faculties and towards additional pandemic-related shutdowns. And he or she espoused pro-police insurance policies, stoking concern about “violent criminals” and the decline of Texas cities within the face of protests over racial injustice.
“Make no mistake: There are gangs. We’ve received drug cartels which can be doing enterprise in our avenue. We’ve received intercourse trafficking,” she instructed the Dallas Morning Information. “These aren’t issues we’re simply making up. That is actual metropolis crime.”
The race, which drew important funding from each events, was rated a toss-up within the ultimate stretch earlier than Election Day. Nevertheless it appeared Van Duyne was finally in a position to leverage her political expertise and conservative social values to defeat Valenzuela.
As Irving’s mayor, Van Duyne infamously sought an investigation of a bunch of Muslim imams in north Texas, falsely accusing them of bypassing American courts when settling disputes amongst members of their neighborhood. She additionally grew to become a vocal opponent of sanctuary insurance policies that defend unauthorized immigrants from federal immigration enforcement.
Whereas at HUD, she had labored on rebuilding areas of Texas that had been devastated by Hurricane Harvey.
The largely suburban 24th District stretches between Dallas and Fort Value. It has been a reliably purple district since 2004, however Marchant, the retiring Tea Get together Republican, solely gained by a slender, Three % margin in 2018. Democrat Beto O’Rourke additionally gained the district in his finally failed Senate bid that 12 months, suggesting Democrats had a shot at flipping it.
They consequently focused the district this 12 months, enrolling Valenzuela within the Democratic Congressional Marketing campaign Committee’s Crimson to Blue program, which goals to help Democratic candidates attempting to flip GOP-held districts and provides them an edge in fundraising. She was additionally endorsed by former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.
Like different Democrats nationwide, Valenzuela highlighted insurance policies aiming to ship higher well being care and financial aid to Texans amid the pandemic, which she stated has been bungled by the Trump administration. However her private historical past set her aside: She skilled homelessness as a toddler, put herself by means of school, and developed a continual well being situation within the wake of a automotive accident.
The race was a microcosm of the broader battle for the quickly diversifying Texas suburbs, which have seen big development amongst their Hispanic and Asian populations — a demographic shift that Democrats understand as a possibility. President Donald Trump, who had proven weak spot amongst suburban girls, particularly, main as much as Election Day, has appeared to harm down-ballot Republicans in these areas. However within the 24th District, which is sort of 1 / 4 Hispanic and 10 % Asian, Van Duyne nonetheless prevailed.