David Alameel
Even against long odds, David Alameel hasn’t thrown in the towel in his bid to unseat Sen. John Cornyn.
“I’m in it for the long run,” the Dallas investor and dentist told The Dallas Morning News editorial board on Monday.
Cornyn leads by about 20 percentage points in most polls. Alameel says it hasn’t dampened his optimism.
“My aim is not just to win. I want to change the way people think,” he said.
He also sees this year’s effort as a way to position himself to try again in 2018, when freshman Sen. Ted Cruz’s term expires.
“The next one is in four years, and you have to build a base. I’m building a base right now,” Alameel said.
I appreciate the willingness to think beyond this election. Some races need to be viewed as multi-cycle. Most candidates, for good and obvious reasons, don’t have that in them, so kudos to Alameel for taking the long view and seeing Ted Cruz’s re-election bid as an opportunity. That said, I hope Alameel has some fierce competition for the chance to take on our lunatic junior Senator. I hope this election is successful enough that several of our vaunted “rising stars” begin licking their chops and gearing up their fundraising with an eye for being first in line at filing time in December of 2017. A nice, high-profile Senate primary will be an excellent way to start the year in 2018.
By the way, the Alameel-Cornyn debate will be tonight, and it can be viewed on Univision on Saturday dubbed in Spanish. There’s a drinking game in there somewhere, I’m sure of it.