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Trump side calls Biden’s first Texas TV ad a ‘pipe dream’ as Dem hits him over COVID: `People are frightened… Wear a mask’

'Virus is tough, but Texas is tougher,' the former VP says in gambit that could signal a serious run at Texas, a prize Republicans can't win without.

Updated at 3 p.m.: Revised to reflect Trump campaign deriding Biden’s Texas “pipe dream.”

WASHINGTON – The president’s Democratic challenger debuted his first TV ad in Texas on Tuesday and it was remarkable for what it did not mention: Donald Trump, or the fact that Republicans haven’t lost the state since 1976.

Instead, former Vice President Joe Biden’s one-minute spot focuses on broad anxiety over the COVID-19 pandemic, offering both encouragement that the crisis will pass and a sharp challenge to Trump’s leadership.

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“I’m thinking of all of you today across Texas. I know the rise in case numbers is causing fear and apprehension. People are frightened. They’re especially worried about their parents, their grandparents, loved ones who are most at risk,” Biden says in the spot. “This virus is tough, but Texas is tougher.”

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President Gerald Ford was the last GOP nominee to lose Texas, 44 years ago. The last time any Democrat won a statewide contest was in 1994.

Demographic and political shifts have changed the landscape, and Texas is no longer the GOP stronghold it was for decades.

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Former El Paso congressman Beto O’Rourke held Sen. Ted Cruz below 51% in 2018. Democrats’ takeaway has been that, once their potential supporters see the possibility of victory, apathy will fall away. More will cast ballots, and they’ll overcome Republicans’ edge in voter registration.

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The Biden spot is part of that experiment, though the Trump campaign scoffed at the investment, calling it too little to make a dent.

“Democrats have been peddling their pipe dream of flipping Texas for over a decade with no success,” said Trump Victory spokeswoman Samantha Cotten. “With next to no staff in the Lone Star State, Joe Biden’s last-ditch effort to parachute into the state will not be enough to overcome our presence and the enthusiasm for President Trump in Texas.”

Momentum has been against the president in Texas, however. He topped Hillary Clinton by 9 percentage points in 2016, the worst GOP showing in Texas since Ford in 1976.

And a Dallas Morning News/University of Texas at Tyler poll released Sunday showed Biden leading by 5 percentage points. Other polls show a closer race in Texas, including a CBS/YouGov poll from the weekend that found a statistical tie, with Trump leading 46-45 – still far worse than any polls in the final months of the 2016 campaign.

The Biden ad, titled “Tough,” is part of a broadcast and digital ad buy that includes spots customized for Texas, Arizona, Florida and North Carolina.

In each, Biden encourages hand washing, social distancing, and face masks. It ends with a photo of Biden wearing a black mask and the words, “Stay safe wear a mask.”

Trump isn’t mentioned by name, but it’s a clear contrast with his mixed messaging on the pandemic.

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And it’s a sign that the Biden campaign may be listening to allies in Texas who have been pressing for a more aggressive effort in a state that may be teetering.

Trump has undermined or muffled top federal public health experts, contradicting their recommendations and in recent days, having aides distribute opposition research-style bullet points casting doubt on the credibility of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s preeminent infectious disease official.

Trump has pressured states to lift restrictions that have slowed the economy and has recently fought guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how schools can safely reopen.

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Trump had not appeared in public wearing a mask until Saturday when he visited the Walter Reed military hospital.

He has mocked Biden’s appearance in a mask, and used his bully pulpit to call for reopening the economy while deemphasizing the sorts of measures Biden embraces in his new ad.

“We can stop the spread but it’s up to all of us to do it,” Biden says. “We have to step up and do both the simple things and the hard things to keep our families and our neighbors safe. Wear a mask. Wash your hands. Stay home if you can and socially distance when you go out.”

The Biden campaign says it will spend in the mid-six figures to air the ads, a respectable if modest sum. The ads will on local cable and Sunday news shows in the top markets in each state, with Spanish-language versions for Texas, Arizona and Florida and on social media.

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“I want every single American to know -- if you’re sick, if you’re struggling, if you’re worried about how you’re going to get through the day, I will not abandon you,” Biden says. “We’re all in this together. We’ll fight this together, and together we’ll emerge from this stronger than we were before we began.”

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