Can Beto O'Rourke show Democrats how to lose less badly in rural America?
DE LEON, Texas — Nobody expects Beto O'Rourke to win Comanche County in the Texas gubernatorial race — least of all, Beto O'Rourke.
Nestled in rolling hills two hours southwest of Dallas-Fort Worth, this patchwork of cotton and hay fields, cattle ranches and the occasional town is rock-ribbed Republican territory; 85% of voters backed President Donald Trump last year. So when O'Rourke pitched his candidacy to 15 of the county's remaining Democrats, gathered at a roadside diner, he floated a seemingly modest goal: Build from Joe Biden's lopsided loss here to a slightly less lopsided 20-80.
Royce Leslie, a lifelong Comanche resident and O'Rourke supporter, dared to dream even bigger, positing that if the El Paso Democrat "could get somehow 8 to 10% more of the voters in Comanche and these rural counties to vote for you ... I think that small amount of margin could do it."
Such is the reality for Democrats in rural America, where success is defined by losing
