Failed gubernatorial candidate and former State Senator Wendy Davis hit the streets of Austin, Texas, to campaign for Hillary Clinton on September 17. She sees the races and the presidential election in the historically red state to be in jeopardy.
Perhaps the state’s most recognizable Democrat, Davis took to the streets of Austin to try to excite voters to support the Clinton campaign. Davis is attempting to leverage what she believes is a tight race for Texas’ 38 electoral votes, Time Warner Cable News reported on Saturday. The report cites a recent poll showing Trump leading Clinton in Texas, but only by a slim margin.
“When you look at the breakdown of that you see that he has a difficult path to victory here,” Davis stated during her speech in Austin. She also hopes to help down-ballot candidates where turnout can be critical. “They have an extraordinary opportunity to be lifted up and over in some races that may be tight,” she explained.
Video coverage of Davis’ speech showed a very small turnout for her comments in Texas’ most liberal county.
Texas GOP Chairman Tom Mechler responded to Davis statements while she was in Austin saying, “Texans are smart enough to know something doesn’t smell right here and they’re not going to support her. I’m not saying that nobody will support her; I don’t think the state is anywhere close to turning anything less than being red.”
Davis made a weak attempt to lure dejected Bernie Sanders supporters.
“There are some lingering disappointments there,” she said. “But now is the time for all of us to pull together.” Sanders defeated Clinton in Austin’s Travis County by a 51-49 margin. Clinton did manage to carry the entire state of Texas by a larger margin. Sanders carried 13 counties in the Lone Star State, The New York Times reported.
Excitement for Hillary Clinton among Texas Democrats seems low in the Lone Star State. Breitbart Texas reported on a September 17 protest conducted outside of where Republican nominee Donald Trump was speaking. During the protest, not a single sign or any indication of turn-out for support for Clinton was observed.
Davis hinted earlier this year that she may be returning to the ring of Texas politics after her failed gubernatorial campaign in 2014. “I miss being in the ring,” the Huffington Post quoted Davis as saying in a February interview on Candidate Confessional. “I miss it very, very much. I felt like it was the place that I was really meant to be. It is where my life struggles and my education came together in a way that I think really served the people that I was elected to serve well. I would love to have the honor to do that at some point again in the future and I am definitely going to keep my eyes open to that opportunity. And if one presents itself, I will run.” The Huffington Post acknowledged that the path for Davis would be “difficult” in the still solidly conservative red state.
Davis was soundly defeated by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in the 2014 general election. Abbott won by a vote of 59 to 39 percent.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and associate judge in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.