Hey there:

I wanted to provide you a quick Cornyn campaign update.

Considering the splash that Rep. Joaquin Castro made in Monthly a few weeks ago, it was our collective assumption he was going to run for U.S. Senate. While I was confident we would have ultimately beat him, even we are surprised at how quickly he took his toys and (seemingly) went home. As a follower of Texas politics, you know the rap that the Castros are extremely risk averse and cautious to a fault. Castro came very close to jumping into the proverbial deep end of the pool with this highly orchestrated Texas Monthly hit but within days of floating that trial balloon, got his knees cut out from under him by the Democratic Don himself, Sen. Chuck Schumer. One would think that a member of Texas Democratic royalty like Castro would put up a little fight. After all, Leticia Van De Putte and at least four members of the Texas congressional delegation went out on a limb for Castro (Reps. of El Paso, Sylvia Garcia of , Filemon Vela of Brownsville and Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen).

But the hype and their support was to no avail. From the cozy confines of his Manhattan office, Chuck decided that he wanted MJ Hegar to run instead — so now Castro is on his way home.

It does make sense on this level, Chuck is a coastal elite and the coastal elite crowd are big fans of MJ’s. Natalie Portman, Rosie O’Donnell and Chelsea Handler all supported MJ last election (an election she lost). Even Elizabeth Warren was on her team.

So, bye bye Joaquin and hello MJ. Make no mistake about it, Joaquin would have been a formidable challenger and MJ will be too. Schumer has already found MJ a seasoned campaign manager (Preston Elliott, who has worked for Kay Hagan and Jon Tester). She raised $5 million from her California, New York and Washington friends and I expect Schumer promised her millions more in a run for Senate.

At the end of the day, this election will come down to two contrasting visions. Senator Cornyn believes the federal government should be more like Texas, responsible and restrained. There is no doubt that MJ Hegar believes it should be more like California – with sky-high taxes and an endless parade of far-left proposals, including government-run health care and a ruinous Green New deal.

We will make this fundamental choice clear over the next 19 months.

Thanks for all you do for the team, Senator Cornyn and the campaign value your counsel.

Best, RJ

PS We are still counting but we had a decent first quarter. We will have final numbers soon.