TX-10: Democrats zero in on health care and electability in final days of race to challenge McCall

Austin attorney Mike Siegel, who ran an unexpectedly close race against McCaul in 2018, faces Austin physician Pritesh Gandhi as he looks to secure his party's nomination again — and show that an unabashed progressive can finish the job in November.

Backed by Bernie Sanders, Siegel is an ardent supporter of "Medicare for All," the single-payer health insurance program, while Gandhi backs a less sweeping proposal that preserves some private insurance. But the contrast that Gandhi is driving in the runoff's final days has as much to do about politics as it does policy....

In making the case against Siegel, Gandhi's campaign points to his opponent's performance against McCaul as a share of the two-party vote in 2018: 47.8%. That was lower in the district than the same metric for O'Rourke and the Democratic nominees for lieutenant governor, attorney general and agriculture commissioner. It was also higher than the shares received by the party's nominees for governor, comptroller, land commissioner and railroad commissioner.

Siegel and Gandhi emerged from a three-way March primary, getting 44% and 33% of the vote, respectively. The third-place finisher, Shannon Hutcheson, had been the choice of the powerful abortion rights group EMILY's List, and her elimination provided something of a reset for national Democrats following the race....

Toward the beginning of the runoff, Gandhi picked up endorsements from two national groups: Planned Parenthood and Giffords, the anti-gun violence organization. But Siegel has been on more of a streak in the runoff, landing further in-district endorsements as well as the backing of two members of the Texas congressional delegation, Reps. Veronica Escobar of El Paso and Sylvia Garcia of Houston. Siegel also has won runoff endorsements from three former 2020 presidential candidates: Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Marianne Williamson.

More recently, Gandhi countered with his own endorsement from a former White House hopeful: U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California, who called Gandhi a "progressive fighter who can win."




https://www.texastribune.org/2020/07/08/austin-congressional-primary-democrat-mccaul/