Ryan Rusak: Welcome to Texas, where we still dominate elections

Texas is headed for sleepy, anticlimactic presidential primaries. Democrat Joe Biden has no serious opposition, and Republican Donald Trump will cruise to victory here on a Super Tuesday that will end the GOP battle, if it’s not already over. And no one expects Texas to be a Trump-Biden battleground. But the 2024 election still runs right through our state. On top issues such as abortion and the border, Texas is a major player. Sen. Ted Cruz’s re-election fight will draw significant interest (and lots of campaign money). And the Union’s largest red state is always an avatar for conservative governance that some will denigrate and others celebrate. Look no further than a new Biden ad featuring a Dallas doctor who tells her story of having to leave the state to obtain an abortion when it was clear her baby could not survive birth. It’s one of the first ads of the general election campaign, and it seeks to lay the blame for Texas’ strict abortion ban at Trump’s feet.

On the same issues, there’s also Kate Cox, the Dallas woman who sued to try to obtain an exception to the abortion ban when she found that her baby suffered from a usually fatal genetic abnormality. She’s been invited to sit with first lady Jill Biden at the state of the union address in March, another sympathetic case that puts Republicans on the defensive after Roe vs. Wade was overturned. Democrats badly want to campaign on the issue, sensing an advantage even among some right-leaning voters. They blame Trump, who nominated three conservative Supreme Court Justices in his four years. They’re less enthused to have the border and illegal immigration as a top issue, but with millions of people coming to the country illegally under Biden, they won’t have much choice. Gov. Greg Abbott makes sure of that. His policy of busing migrants, for free and with consent, to cities that brag about their “sanctuary” policies has changed the terms of the debate. Even Democrats are starting to talk tough, with Biden pledging — put down your drink here or risk a spit take — to close the border with Mexico if necessary.