Beto and Ted

       

This November, hundreds of House seats are up for grabs for hopeful candidates across the U.S. - same as every midterm election cycle. This year, however, the stakes are much higher than any run-of-the-mill congressional situation. Throughout social media the threat of a swelling "blue-wave" could potentially unseat House and Senate Republicans and replace them with a flood of Progressive Democrats. To counteract this social media tidal-wave, conservatives have branded the defense of Congress as the "red-wave" - a very, very unfortunate connotation for any political movement.

Across the country, Progressives are making a statement: winning districts and party candidacy in massive numbers. One hopeful, the Democratic candidate for Texas, Beto O'Rourke is fighting against the highly publicized Ted Cruz. Although Ted failed in his bid for president in 2016, Cruz is attempting at holding out in Texas as some sort of a personal (and political) redemption. Ted maintains a 4-5 point lead over Beto - but social media is playing a powerful impact as we loom closer to November.

Almost ironically, Ted Cruz's PR team circulated a photo of their guy as a badass sort of Republican gangster. Beto has had video surfaced of him skateboarding and photos of him in his 20's goofing-off with his band (in drag). No politician wants to admit it, but races are centered around personality and popularity first, platforms in a close second. The Twitterverse™ has gone wild over the Cruz posters and Beto being a "cool-kid". November is coming fast, and these next crucial weeks are important to establishing a strong base, while getting apathetic Americans to vote for you.

Needless to say, being the "cool-kid" may work out in Beto O'Rourke's favor in November - especially if Ted Cruz's PR team can't figure out how to use social media trends to their advantage.