people get hung up simply on the 'losing' part.

but if a relative (previously) unknown democrat can get within ~2% of winning solid conservative texas...and flipping the types of voters/districts/counties he flipped to make it that competitive...he can reshape the electorate of the entire country. important states like florida, georgia, ohio and north carolina are all less red than texas.

he significantly outperformed obama and clinton prez election performance in an midterm election that was more unfavorable to democrats (older, whiter, more conservative, more rural). he could outdo that performance in a prez year where there is traditionally more young/non-white voters.