The Dallas Morning News has live election results for local, state and national races.
HOUSTON — Texas voters sent Republican Ted Cruz back for a third term in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, turning back Democratic challenger Colin Allred, a congressman from Dallas.
Cruz walked onto the stage at the Marriott Marquis in downtown Houston as the crowd of supporters cheered wildly.
”When I return to the Senate, I carry with me not just a victory, but a mandate, a mandate from the people of Texas,” Cruz said, surrounded by his family.
He said that mandate is to secure the border, unleash oil and gas production and protect Texas values.
With 84% of early unofficial results counted, Cruz led Allred, 54% to 43.9%.
The Cruz victory means Texas Democrats are still looking for their first statewide win in more than 30 years. It also puts him in a position to increase his power on Capitol Hill, where he is the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee.
Allred briefly addressed supporters at the Longhorn Ballroom in South Dallas.
“It shouldn’t be remarkable to have to admit defeat, but in today’s politics, it’s becoming rarer and rarer,” Allred said. “You can’t just be a patriot when your side wins. So tonight, we didn’t win, but we will continue to be patriots.”
The contest became one of the nation’s hottest Senate races despite the state’s rightward lean, with the two campaigns and outside groups spending hundreds of millions of dollars combined.
Cruz pushed throughout the race to make it a proxy for the presidential campaign, spotlighting his alignment with former President Donald Trump while tying Allred to Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden’s border and immigration policies.
He painted Allred as too liberal for Texas based on the frequency with which the three-term congressman voted alongside fellow Democrats.
Allred kept the presidential contest at arm’s length for much of the race, framing it as a straightforward referendum on Cruz and criticizing him as more focused on podcasting than the needs of Texans. He vowed to restore abortion rights wiped out by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade and sharply attacked Cruz over his support for abortion restrictions.
High hopes
Democrats approached the race emboldened by their showing in 2018, when Beto O’Rourke fell 2.6 percentage points short of defeating Cruz.
A prolific fundraiser out of the gate, Allred used the money aggressively to introduce himself to voters beyond his U.S. House district in Dallas.
He told them how he was raised by a single mom who worked as a public school teacher. A football scholarship allowed him to attend Baylor University.
Every NFL team passed on him in the draft, but he worked hard at being a versatile role player and landed a spot on the Tennessee Titans roster. He played several seasons before an injury in a game against the Cowboys prompted him to trade in his shoulder pads for law books.
After law school, he worked as a civil rights attorney and served in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama administration.
Erik Moss, 37, told The Dallas Morning News he attended Allred’s party to be with friends and other supporters.
He said he’d lived through several heartbreaking gubernatorial and Senate campaigns in Texas, like former Congressman O’Rourke’s narrow loss. This year’s race was important, he said, pointing to reproductive rights and mental health for LGBTQ youth in Texas.
”It’s tough when you know a candidate and what they stand for and what you want for the rest of your state and for kids,” Moss said, then paused with tears in his eyes. ”I think that most of us in the LGBTQ community hope for a better future for the kids that come after us.”
Cruz was ready and waiting
The 2018 close call had Cruz’s guard up, anticipating Democrats would spend heavily against him again.
The two-term senator entered the 2024 race a household name thanks to high-profile fights with Democrats, his 2016 run for president and a ubiquitous presence in conservative media.
During his first term, Cruz launched a filibuster-style talkathon on the Senate floor that stretched for more than 21 hours as he railed against the Affordable Care Act.
The end result was not the defunding of the health care law that he’d hoped for but copious media coverage and the admiration of many among the rising tea party crowd. His national profile has been a double-edged sword, said Brandon Rottinghaus, University of Houston political science professor.
“He’s able to raise a lot of money from Republicans who want to see Texas red, but he also has high negatives,” Rottinghaus said.
Cruz’s message was clear in his 2024 campaign theme: Keep Texas, Texas.
At Tuesday night’s party, Cruz thanked Texas Democrats who crossed over to back him. He congratulated Allred on a hard-fought campaign and offered a message for those who didn’t support him in the race.
“You have my word that I will fight for you, for your jobs, for your safety and for your constitutional rights,” Cruz said. “But tonight, the people of Texas have spoken, and their message rings clear as a bell across our great state: Texas will remain Texas.”
Competing for the title of most bipartisan
Allred made a commitment to bipartisanship a focus of his campaign, pointing to his support for measures on infrastructure, chips manufacturing and school safety.
“All the ads, all the issues he talked about, his demeanor was all about being in the middle,” Rottinghaus said.
Allred had the endorsement of various Republicans, including a former colleague, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who criticized Cruz’s attempt to block certification of Biden’s 2020 victory.
Cruz at times struck a different tone from his usual sharp attacks on Democrats.
He highlighted bipartisan bills he advanced through his position as top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, including a federal aviation bill and legislation that eased permits for several bridges over the Rio Grande.
He also had the support of some Democratic officials in Texas, including Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who joined him on stage Tuesday night.
Cruz would frequently pivot back to hammering Allred as just another liberal Democrat.
“He knows what can work and tried to stay true to things that got him where he was,” Rottinghaus said of Cruz. “He’s a pugilist and an instigator, and it’s worked well for him in Republican circles.”
Money money money
The race has been one of the most expensive in the country. The candidates were able to raise piles of cash and outside money poured in as well. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee put at least $13 million into joint advertising with Allred.
Cruz filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission that the DSCC spending violated the rules, but Democrats said they were following the same path as Republicans in other races.
During appearances in conservative media, Cruz sounded the alarm that he would potentially be out-spent.
Tuesday night, Cruz alluded to the millions that national Democrats poured into the race, saying Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had tried to buy the Senate seat like a “piece of Manhattan real estate.”
“Well, I want to say thank you, Chuck, and I hope we win a few more Senate seats tonight because you wasted so much money in Texas.”
A mix of potent issues
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe vs. Wade, Allred put protecting abortion access at the heart of his campaign.
That included amplifying the stories of Texas women who have faced health complications as a result of being denied abortions under the state’s strict abortion ban.
Cruz leaned heavily on border security and illegal immigration, pointing to people killed by immigrants who entered the country illegally.
He often brought up Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl in Houston who authorities say was murdered by two men from Venezuela who were released from detention after entering the country illegally.
Cruz has introduced legislation aimed at preventing such releases.
Allred responded by blaming Cruz and Republicans for blocking a bipartisan border and immigration proposal.
Jocelyn’s mother joined Cruz on stage at Tuesday’s celebration. He thanked her for speaking out in her daughter’s name. Someone in the crowd shouted “Build the wall.”
“We’re going to,” Cruz responded from the stage.
Cruz’s win will help shape politics in the state, which is going through massive changes thanks to an influx of new residents and evolving demographics.
“The Democrats are still trying to figure out what the secret sauce is to win Texas,” Rottinghaus said. “Is it a moderate candidate who can appeal to a cross-section of voters or is it just a base-on-base enterprise where whoever gets their voters out is going to win?”
Cruz said the returns show Latino voters are leaving Democrats and flocking to the GOP and its conservative values.
“The results tonight, this decisive victory, should shake the Democrat establishment to its core,” Cruz said.
