Texas Republicans are scrambling to register voters as they lose their grip on the state

When it comes to the GOP's prospects of winning Texas in 2020, there's growing pessimism within its ranks -- a pessimism that manifested itself in the recent retirements of six House Republicans from the state, Axios reports.

Republicans are no longer taking Texas for granted, strategists say, and they're gearing up to throw everything they have at the state. President Trump is set to have a rally in Dallas this coming October 17 to tout the "good news of the Trump economy."

After losing two congressional seats and seeing some other close races in the 2018 midterms -- as well as Beto O'Rourke's impressive performance thanks to the state's shifting demographics -- a GOP super PAC is on a mission to raise $10 million to register an extra 1 million Texas voters.

How did they get to this point? According to GOP consultant Susan Lilly, it's because "we weren't doing our homework."

"Some members forgot about doing town hall meetings," she told Axios, adding that some politicians have now "woken up."

One of Lilly's clients, Rep. Mike McCaul of Texas' 10th district, could add to the GOP's woes in the state if he retires. If he goes, he'd be the 7th out of 23 House Republicans to retire at the end of this term.

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