CENTRAL TEXAS — The 2020 presidential election is less than two years away.
President Donald Trump is looking to win and join the ranks of presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, just to name a few as two-term presidents.
The list candidates is growing with the Democrats – most notably current U.S. Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, along with former San Antonio Mayor and past U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro.
There’s also former U.S. Representative from Texas, Beto O’Rourke, who’s made headlines with his announcement he’ll seek the party’s nomination for president.
We reached out to political analyst Mustafa Tameez, who then talked to us from Houston about the race for the 2020 presidency.
He was tapped by the Bush Administration in 2005 as a consultant to the Department of Homeland Security, and he says the voting face of America is changing.
"For the first time, Generation Z and the millennials out vote baby boomers, which is a tremendous shift in American politics – because in recent elections, baby boomers have dominated the elections, so a younger pool of voters and a more diverse pool of voters may change not just the election outcome but may change what states are in play," Tameez said.
He adds the message young voters may send will shake up Washington D.C.
"It’s going to shake up Washington. Elections are usually governed by consultants who look at prior elections to determine what the polling may be for voters that they’re polling—trying to what issues resonate with voters," Tameez said. "If you have a whole new electorate coming to the 2020 election cycle in the presidential race, with a lot of the senate races and the congressional races across the country, it may change, maybe a transformational election, and we don’t know what will happen, but candidates like Beto O’Rourke, who are inspiring young voters, may have a big to-do in terms of what happens in 2020."
Tameez also says when it comes to Texas, it'll be hard for a Republican to win without the Lone Star State's 38 electoral votes.
"If you look at our electoral college, Democrats dominate the coasts, California, the coasts, big electoral votes, Illinois, " Tameez said. "But, the Republicans have always had Texas with its 38 electoral votes. If Beto O’Rourke is on the ballot and Texas is no longer a solid Republican state, those 38 electoral votes may make it very difficult if not impossible for Republicans to win the White House for maybe a generation."
