Cruz tells Scurry County that GOP needs to vote in November

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  • Sen. Ted Cruz (holding book) signed autographs for Scurry County residents following his town hall meeting on the Scurry County Courthouse lawn. Cruz encouraged residents to vote on Nov. 6 while also discussing issues facing the United States.
    Sen. Ted Cruz (holding book) signed autographs for Scurry County residents following his town hall meeting on the Scurry County Courthouse lawn. Cruz encouraged residents to vote on Nov. 6 while also discussing issues facing the United States.
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Sen. Ted Cruz warned Snyder residents attending his town hall meeting Thursday that if they and other Texas Republicans don’t vote this November, the red state they call home could start turning blue.
Cruz, R-Texas, addressed a crowd estimated at about 200 people on the Scurry County Courthouse square Thursday morning, defending his conservative record on tax and regulatory reform while attacking his Democratic opponent, Beto O’Rourke, as a “true blue” liberal out of touch with the beliefs of the majority of Texans.
He warned the crowd that Democrats, united “in their hatred of Donald Trump,” have become more energized than they have been in years, meaning that Republicans, who have practically monopolized Texas politics for more than 20 years, can’t be complacent when it comes to voting on Nov. 6.
“This is a real fight,” Cruz said of his campaign against O’Rourke. “The anger and fury on the far left is massive, driven by their hatred of President Trump. We need to make sure that people stay mobilized and don’t stay home on Election Day.”
Cruz said he is a staunch conservative and a defender of the values he said made Texas “the greatest state in the greatest nation in the history of the world.”
He highlighted several accomplishments of the Republican-controlled Congress:
• Tax cuts — Cruz said the tax cut package passed by Congress in 2017 was “historic,” noting that it doubled the child care credit and doubled the number of family farms that would be exempt from inheritance taxes — which he labeled “the death tax” — while also doubling the standard deduction taxpayers can claim.
“Next year, 90 percent of people will be able to fill out their taxes on a postcard,” Cruz said. “But I want to take it further. I want to make the tax cuts permanent, I want to work toward instituting a flat tax and abolishing the IRS (Internal Revenue Service).”
• Regulatory reform — Cruz said Congress and the Trump administration have had “tremendous success” rolling back regulations instituted during President Obama’s administration and, as a result, the Texas economy is booming.
“Today, Texas is producing 33 percent more oil than it did in 2016,” Cruz said. 
The state has the lowest unemployment rate that it has had in decades and the lowest African-American and Hispanic unemployment rates since those figures were first recorded, he said. Youth unemployment — which includes those between the ages of 16 and 24 — is at the lowest level it’s been in 52 years. 
“Small businesses have prospered and Texas is doing great,” Cruz said.
• Affordable Care Act (ACA) — Republicans succeeded in eliminating the individual mandate portion of the ACA, but Cruz said more needs to be done.
“Nobody thought we’d be able to repeal the individual mandate … but we came together and delivered on our promises,” Cruz said. “Now we need to continue the job and completely eliminate that disastrous legislation.”
• Naming conservative judges to the federal bench — “This has been an unmitigated success,” Cruz said. “There are principled constitutionalists being confirmed across the judiciary. For those who care about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and all the fundamental (precepts) of democracy, the last two years have been a tremendous success.”
Cruz also supports overhauling the federal Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which he claims was turned into “a political arm of the Democratic National Committee” under the Obama administration.
On the issue of same-sex marriage, he believes the issue can best be decided at the state level rather than left it in the hands of “five unelected judges” on the Supreme Court.
Regarding President Trump’s sometimes controversial statements and tweets, Cruz said he was “disappointed” by some of the comments, but has otherwise decided to keep away from the controversy.
“The president says and thinks things that I wouldn’t say or think, and I wish he wouldn’t say or think them,” he said. “I’m not going to defend the indefensible, but I’ve got better things to do than be one of those people on talk shows whose hair is always on fire. If you want me to comment on the issues, that’s fine, but I’m not going to get involved in all those controversies.”
Cruz also talked about NFL players taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem.
“Beto O’Rourke doesn’t think the players are being disrespectful and, in fact, he said he couldn’t think of anything more American to do (than protest),” Cruz said. “Well, I can think of plenty of things more American than that. In Texas, we respect the flag and we stand during the (Pledge of Allegiance) and the national anthem.”