By Andrew Schneider, Houston Public Media News for Audio Texas
CLEVELAND – Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick is at the Republican National Convention this week, heading the Texas delegation in the place of Governor Greg Abbott, who’s still recovering from severe burns.
When Patrick cast Texas’ votes at Tuesday night’s roll call, he singled out Senator Ted Cruz for praise as the state’s favorite son. He sounded a similar note at a Wednesday breakfast for the Texas delegation, saying Cruz would have other opportunities to run for president in the future. But this year, Patrick says it’s important the state’s Republicans pull together behind Donald Trump.
“He’s going to win Texas. It’s the margin [that’s important], because we want to keep Texas strong Republican. The Democrats made a hard push against [Governor Greg] Abbott and myself in the last election with Battleground Texas, and they got beat by 20 points.”
Patrick says he and Abbott have been speaking to the Trump campaign about how to win over Texans put off by the nominee’s rhetoric. He’s hoping Trump follows the game plan he and Abbott used in 2014 to win over nearly half the state’s Latino voters.
“And we did it with the following message: No one should have to die to come to this country. No one should suffocate in the back of an 18-wheeler. No one should be left in the desert to die like they are now by the drug cartels, who often drop people in no man’s land with no water, and they die in the desert before they ever get anywhere.”
The lieutenant governor says he’d be comfortable if Trump carries the state by a margin of eight-to-ten points. That, he says, would be enough to head off a talk of a Democratic resurgence, as Texas looks ahead to the next statewide elections in 2018.
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