Midterm candidates court voters from other parties
Cross-party endorsements are surging in key states, but experts caution the impact on November outcomes may be limited.
By Fatima Saleh ·
Midterm election candidates in several states have moved to recruit support from officials and voters in the opposing party. This push for bipartisan appeal has intensified as the November election approaches.
Democratic candidates have highlighted endorsements from prominent Republicans. In Alaska, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins on Tuesday. In Kansas, former Republican governors Bill Graves and Mike Hayden announced their backing for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hamilton in September and October.
Texas offers another example of this trend. The campaign for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico reported that more than two dozen former GOP officials have endorsed him. Kel Seliger, a former GOP state senator, joined the group this week. Seliger chose Talarico over the Republican candidate, Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Seliger explained his decision by noting his history of working with both men. “James Talarico is not some wild-eyed socialist and he may believe in a lot of things that Democratic Party believes in that I don’t,” Seliger said. “But I think he’s going to be honest. And I think he’s going to be frank and direct.” He added that Talarico’s actions would prioritize Texas over Elon Musk.
Republican officials have also sought to attract voters from across the aisle. Natalie Baldassarre, national press secretary for the Republican National Committee, pointed to the race in Michigan between Mike Rogers and Abdul El-Sayed. She also cited the “Democrats for Mike Rogers” coalition as evidence of crossover support in the Texas Senate race.
Joshua Blank, Research Director at the Texas Politics Project, offered a more cautious view. He stated that cross-party voting usually involves a small share of the electorate. “We’re not talking about a large group of Republicans crossing party lines to vote for Democrats, or a large group of Democrats possibly crossing party lines to vote for Republicans,” Blank said. He described these behaviors as idiosyncratic and limited in scope.
Recent polling indicates that several midterm races have narrowed to statistically tied margins. Blank noted that if elections are close, these smaller voting shifts could influence the final results.
