Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) proclaimed on Friday that Democrats could flip Texas in upcoming elections if voters were willing to put in the work.
“If you in Texas are prepared to work hard, stand up, fight back, go out to your neighbors, talk to those people who voted for [President] Trump, make sure that every friend you have, and family member that you have, comes out and votes — yeah, I believe that Texas can go blue,” Sanders said at the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin.
The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate said that voters would have to “get involved in the political process in a way that we have never done in the modern history of this country.”
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Texas held the first congressional primaries of the 2018 midterm elections on Tuesday, prompting a surge in Democratic turnout. Still, Republican turnout remained higher overall.
Texas is considered among the most conservative states in the country, and most districts are seen by Republicans as safe electoral bets.
But Democrats, energized by opposition to Trump, are seeking to make gains in Republican-held districts across the country in the midterm elections in an effort to win control of the House.
Sanders has crisscrossed the country this year in an effort to rally support for Democrats in competitive races.