been pretty excited to get out and hopefully change things a little bit. how big of a factor is donald trump in maybe making texas a little bluer this year? i think almost entirely. the big ticket race out here will be the senate race this fall between ted cruz and likely o rourke, the congressman from out towards el paso. i talked to a number of voters who say even in beto can t beat ted cruz, people are excited about him and that seems to be drawing dmgs to the polls. so far here this morning. that s something democrats would like to see continue. it s going to take a lot of work to win a straightwide race in texas. maybe this is the year, maybe it s not. texas democrats are fired up this morning, stephanie. you know texas politics well. what races should we be keeping an eye on specifically? well, o rourke from el paso has done something that s really surprised a lot of people. he s created a grassroots campaign that s created a lot of attention.
in arizona, don t forget about sheriff joe. that s bringing out a lot of latinos, you wouldn t believe the number of people who are going door to door, not just in the presidential election, but a local county sheriff election, that down ticket race may actually have more coat tails, they actually bring out more votes to vote against arpaio. there continues to be ad buys and on the ground. and i think you re going to see a really, really large latino vote in arizona. people talk about black turnout, and people fail to appreciate that african-americans turn out more than anyone. jewish voters african-americans turn out at very high rates, particularly in the south, particularly for education and income, they turn
about. so if he could get a point or two back, that would be the way to do it. katherine, these latest accusations, they widen the rift between donald trump and fellow republicans. the new york times this week said this turmoil could unleash a down ballot nightmare saying the nightmare possibility for the party is that swing voters punish the party because of mr. trump. the andy trump republicans stay at home and mr. trump s base casts a ballot for him and he leads the poll. how plausible is that scenario? you think this is having an infect on down ballot races? i mean that certainly is the nightmare strategy scenario. i think that republican leaders like paul ryan are really working to try and prevent something like that happening. it s hard to say. i do think there are a lot of republican voters who are good at, you know, separating some of the issues. i talked to a lot of voters who are prepared to cast a ballot in a down ticket race but perhaps
last night s election makes matt bevin second republican governor of kentucky literally in the last four decades. that race was just a huge upset for democrats. by a small margin. the other kentucky race a little lower down the ticket that s really big, national implications was surprisingly enough the race for state auditor. the democratic incumbent state auditor in kentucky, i know it doesn t sound like an important position for nationwide implications here but follow this. adam edelen, he lost his seat last night. he s going to be replaced by a republican. this is a down ticket race and the result is a huge deal because there s a lot of talk that the very talented mr. edelen was the democratic rising star in kentucky politics and a lot of people were expecting him to run a very tough campaign for the united states senate against
lower down the ticket that s really big, national implications was surprisingly enough the race for state auditor. the democratic incumbent state auditor in kentucky, i know it doesn t sound like an important position for nationwide implications here but follow this. adam edelen, he lost his seat last night. he s going to be replaced by a republican. this is a down ticket race and the result is a huge deal because there s a lot of talk that the very talented mr. edelen was the democratic rising star in kentucky politics and a lot of people were expecting him to run a very tough campaign for the united states senate against rand paul this time next year. now that adam edelen has lost the statewide elected office as auditor, it is a much more open question of whether he ll wage a run against rand paul for senate