HRC and Jeb struggled with this in recent years. In the '90s, both connected to their respective bases pretty well. I could go into details about why they don't anymore, but I won't derail the thread.
However, I'm not sure that Beto will be able to do it as well in 2020. In 2018, he had no meaningful competition. Basically, the field was clear for the Democratic nomination. It was either Beto or forfeiting the race to Cruz. It's a lot easier to connect with voters when there's no one else for them to listen to or trying to show voters why they shouldn't listen to you. And of course, in the general election campaign, he got gushingly positive media coverage. They couldn't kiss his *** enough.
I'm not saying he isn't good at connecting with voters in general. He clearly is, even if I'm not a fan. The fact that he did better than any Democrat in Texas in 20 years says a lot about that. However, in 2020, he'll be up against candidates in the primary who are also good at that. Furthermore, plenty of Democratic primary voters want ideological purity or close to it and, frankly, don't particularly want a white guy. They'll view that as regression. And of course, the media won't be as favorable to him in a primary as in a general election because their loyalties will be divided.
If it's between Beto and Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, and/or Castro, and all three are calling Beto a phony and pointing out his more moderate record and, yes, his whiteness (neither of which he has ever had to deal with to a meaningful extent), it's going to hurt him at least to a degree. And with the media off his jock for a few minutes to get on Harris's, Castro's, or Booker's, his momentum will get blunted.
Last edited: Dec 18, 2018