The Texas Senate campaign began with a bang on Wednesday as Senator Ted Cruz mocked Representative Beto O’Rourke for using a childhood nickname.
WASHINGTON — The day after the Texas primary, Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, jumped into his general re-election campaign on Wednesday with a quick strike trying to paint his Democratic opponent, Representative Beto O’Rourke, as a Latino-come-lately.
But Mr. O’Rourke, whose family has lived on the Mexican border in El Paso for four generations, hit back with a secret weapon — a picture of him as a preschooler with the name “Beto” stitched onto his sweater.
At issue is that most intangible of political assets, authenticity, or perhaps a Shakespearean question, “What’s in a name?”
Mr. Cruz, taking a page from President Trump’s playbook of stamping damaging labels on his opponents, seemed to be trying to undermine the authenticity of Mr. O’Rourke, whose birth name is Robert Francis, but who has been known since childhood as “Beto.”
A quick radio and online jingle, released on Wednesday, drawled, “Liberal Robert wanted to fit in, so he changed his name to Beto and hid it with a grin.”
It is the kind of skewer that worked for Mr. Trump, including against the Texas senator, whom he called “Lyin’ Ted.”
With a quick photo response that leaned more cute than cutting, Mr. O’Rourke may be able to defuse any lasting effect of Mr. Cruz’s approach. Mr. O’Rourke owned up that he tried to go by Robert as a student at Columbia University, but when his friends found out that he was known as Beto, that name stuck.
“I am really happy with whatever anyone calls me,” Mr. O’Rourke said in an interview. He said Texas voters were far more interested in discussing jobs, health care and immigration.
“They want us to take on these really urgent priorities,” he said, “not just this smallness and pettiness that dominates the national conversation today.”
But as Mr. Trump showed, derisive nicknames can plant doubt, as it did in the case of “Crooked” Hillary Clinton, and “Little Marco” Rubio during the campaign, and with “Low Energy” Jeb Bush, “Liddle Bob Corker” and “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer,” among others, as president.
Of course Mr. Cruz comes to this game with his own label liability: He was born Rafael Edward Cruz, but goes by “Ted.”
“Cruz lacks Trump’s visceral instincts,” said Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist. “Plus, I suspect voters are getting tired of Trump’s schtick from Trump; they’re unlikely to want a pale imitation.”
So if Mr. O’Rourke is going for a Latin sound to appeal to one segment of Texas voters, Mr. Cruz could be accused of veering Anglo-Saxon to appeal to another.
That Mr. Cruz would move so quickly to try to skewer his opponent is a measure of how seriously he is taking the challenge from Mr. O’Rourke, even though no Democrat has won a statewide office since 1994.
“If you’re gonna run in Texas, you can’t run as a liberal man,” his jingle intoned.
Mr. Cruz told “New Day” on CNN: “In terms of the jingle, some of it is just having a sense of humor. We had some fun with it.”
As for his own use of Ted rather than Rafael, Mr. Cruz said, “You’re absolutely right. My name is Rafael Edward Cruz. I am the son of my father Rafael Cruz, an immigrant from Cuba who came to Texas with nothing.”
Mr. O’Rourke has been raising more money than Mr. Cruz in recent quarters and has tried to awaken a dormant Democratic vote in rural parts of Texas by relentlessly holding town hall-style meetings.
But Mr. Cruz, known as a skilled tactician and debater, is still the clear favorite in the race.
