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On paper, the Democrats have outpaced the GOP in early voting. As it turns out, that might be because some voters—despite not being Democrats—are casting spoiler votes in their primaries.
In a recent episode of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show, a caller who identified himself as a registered independent said he decided to vote in the Democrat primary for Jasmine Crockett—a move reminiscent of Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos.”
The caller explained that he would be comfortable with any of the current Republican Senate candidates and believes Jasmine Crockett would be easier for them to defeat.
Former congressional candidate and former Bexar County GOP Chair Kyle Sinclair says this is something Democrats have done to Republicans for some time. “I saw it happen in a local sheriff’s race in Bexar County,” he said. “I saw what they did. They had people show up for a candidate they thought they could beat.”
Sinclair hinted that if Republicans could manage to use this strategy effectively against the Democrats, it might be a way to finally get them to support closed primaries in Texas—something the Texas GOP has been pushing for some time.
So does this need to become a more standard strategy for Texas Republicans? It’s not without its risks. Sinclair warned that it could hurt Republican turnout, saying, “Local county GOPs struggle to get people out to vote, and municipalities and certain cities struggle to get people out to vote.”
Overall, he says it could be effective, but would require a lot of coordination and organization.