Tex Senator Ted Cruz will serve a third term after winning an expensive and controversial race against Democratic Rep. Colin Allred.
Cruz retained his seat after beating back Allred, keeping alive Texas’ streak of not electing a Democratic senator in more than three decades.
Cruz rose to national prominence when he ran for president in 2016, before abandoning the Republican primaries and ultimately endorsing Donald Trump. During his time in office, he has been embroiled in controversies. including taking one Travel to 2021 Cancun, Mexicowhen a devastating winter storm left millions of Texans without electricity.
After a failed presidential bid in 2016, in which he exchanged sharp words with Donald Trump during the primaries, Cruz returned to the Senate at key moments as one of Trump’s strongest defenders.. On January 6, 2021, Cruz objected to the certification of Arizona’s election results as pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. In the lead-up to the attack, a leaked phone call revealed that the Texas senator had pushed for the creation of a congressionally appointed election commission to review unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election, according to the Washington Post. After. He voted to acquit Trump in both impeachment proceedings against the former president.
Trump endorsed Cruz in the race. “It’s hard to believe he’s in a race because honestly, I don’t know who would want to run against him,” Trump said of Cruz at a campaign event in Texas. “He really is a great senator. He loves the country. He’s tough as hell. He is always fighting.”
Now Now that Cruz’s victory is assured, Republicans hope they can take power the Senate, while Democrats try to defend a slim majority.
Read more: View a map of the results of the 2024 Senate race
Texas’s nail-biting Senate race mirrored similar political tensions in 2018, when Cruz narrowly won a second term by defeating Democrat Beto O’Rourke with only 2.6 points. Estimates from FiveThirtyEight showed the gap between Cruz and Allred narrowing in the days leading up to the election, with Cruz with a lead of about three points from November 1.
The race was one of the most expensive in the U.S. Senate this year. with each candidate cumulatively raising over $160 million for their respective campaigns, according to KUT News. Cruz raised a total of $86 million and campaigned under the slogan “Keep Texas, Texas.” During his campaign, he emphasized his anti-abortion stance support identified for 2022 of the Supreme Court decision annulled Roe v. Wade. Cruz has also emphasized his opposition to transgender women’s participation in sports, running ads referencing Allred’s vote against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, which would ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports.