Can Beto do it? The battle for Texas that holds the key to America's future

Texas, it is said, holds the keys to the future of America. So, if this longtime Republican stronghold fell to the Democrats it would be a seismic cultural shift. But insurgent candidate Beto O’Rourke has an uphill task

On a balmy night in Austin, against the backdrop of the glittering high-rises of the city’s booming downtown, Beto O’Rourke is laying out his audacious plan to change the face of Texas, and America.

In front of him, packed into an open-air park, a largely young crowd of 40,000 is thrumming with scarcely contained glee. Even in the liberal bubble of Austin they have never experienced anything like this: a Democrat seriously in the running for a Senate seat, vying to topple Ted Cruz, the Tea Party fanatic whom even fellow Republicans call “Lucifer in the flesh”.