‘Texas will remain Texas.’ Senator Ted Cruz’s big victory shows state is solidly red
Texas voters said their piece when they reelected U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz to his third term Tuesday: The Lone Star State remains solidly red.
The contest between Cruz and Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a Dallas Democrat, was among the closest-watched Senate races in the country as Democrats tried to keep their narrow majority in the U.S. Senate.
National Democrats invested heavily in the race and polls showed tight margins, but on Election Day, Cruz won Texas — just as every other Republican running for a statewide seat has for the past three decades.
“Tonight the people of Texas have spoken, and their message rings clear as a bell across our great state: Texas will remain Texas,” Cruz said to cheers as he addressed a crowd of supporters in a Houston hotel ballroom.
Chants of “Ted” filled the room.
With 97% of votes counted, the AP reported that Cruz had 53.2% of votes to Allred’s 44.5%. Libertarian Ted Brown won 2.4% of votes.
The 8.7-point lead is more than double what polls predicted, according to an average from 538.
Cruz, of Houston, is a former Texas solicitor general who first took office as a U.S. senator in 2013. Allred, of Dallas, played linebacker for the Tennessee Titans before becoming a civil rights attorney. Texas has two senators with six-year terms that come up for reelection on a staggered basis.
Throughout his bid, Cruz called Allred too radical for Texas and worked to liken Allred to Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost Texas on Election Night. Allred painted himself as the moderate choice who could work across the aisle. Both touted bipartisan credentials.
By 11 p.m., Allred had conceded.
“I want to thank Texas,” Allred said from an election night watch party stage in Dallas, according to the Texas Tribune. “Tonight, I called Sen. Cruz and congratulated him on his victory. It shouldn’t be remarkable to have to admit defeat, but in today’s politics, it’s becoming rarer and rarer.”
Cruz’s Texas victory coincides with former President Donald Trump’s win in Texas.
Trump earned 53% of votes in Texas to Harris’ 42.3%, with 99% of polling locations reporting, according to unofficial results from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office — a nearly 11-point edge. In 2020, he beat President Joe Biden by 5.6 points in Texas.
‘A darker shade of red’
Cruz’s margin of victory was on track to be wider in 2024 than it was in 2018, when he was last on the ballot. In that race, Cruz ran against former El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat known for his colorful campaign style and pledge to visit all of Texas’ 254 counties.
O’Rourke came within 3 percentage points of winning.
“For a Democratic Party with high hopes of defeating Ted Cruz and narrowing Donald Trump’s margin of victory compared to 2020, the election results represented a bucket of cold water,” said Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor, in an email. “Both Trump and Cruz won easily, and the state turned a darker shade of red compared to 2020, moving the needle in the wrong direction from the perspective of Texas Democrats and in the right direction from the perspective of Texas Republicans.”
SMU Political Science Professor Cal Jillson called it a “really good night for the Republicans in Texas, outperforming expectations by big margins.”
Before cheering that “Texas will remain Texas,” Cruz congratulated Allred on a hard-fought campaign and made a promise to Allred’s supporters.
“I want to say to all of those who didn’t support me, you have my word that I will fight for you, for your jobs, for your safety and for your constitutional rights,” Cruz said.
He also thanked Democrats who voted for him, highlighting Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, a Democrat who endorsed Cruz and joined the senator as he celebrated his victory Tuesday night.
Before and as results were tallied, attendees at Cruz’s watch party at Marriot Marquis in Houston were optimistic that Cruz would win Texas.
Elizabeth Crump of League City has supported him since 2016 when he ran for president.
“I know that he really, really cares for Texas and the United States,” she said.
Cruz gets things done, said Jeff Pitts of Waller.
“I believe that he’s fighting for us,” Pitts said.
Republicans win U.S. Senate majority
Cruz predicted a Republican Senate as votes continued to be counted Tuesday night, an outcome that proved true as Republicans won 51 seats in the upper chamber in Washington.
Democrats, with the help of independents who vote with them, had held a narrow 51-49 majority in Washington’s upper chamber. Beyond Texas, Democrats were working to defend seats in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
The Texas race received national attention as Democrats worked to maintain control of the U.S. Senate.
Cruz singled out Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer during his victory speech. Among other spending by national Democrats on the Texas seat, a PAC aligned with Schumer — the Senate Majority PAC — spent millions in the race, according to Politico.
“Well I want to say thank you, Chuck,” Cruz said. “And I hope we win a few more Senate seats tonight because you wasted so much money here in Texas.”
Who turned out in the Texas Senate race between Cruz, Allred?
On the campaign trail, Cruz spent much of his time focusing on issues like the economy, immigration and border security. Opposition to transgender athletes’ participation on sports teams aligning with their gender identity was another area of focus, particularly in the final stretch of the campaign.
Allred focused on abortion access in Texas and on Cruz as a senator, often highlighting Cruz’s trip to Cancun during the 2021 winter storm and casting Cruz as a “me guy.”
“Fundamentals still matter in Texas: the economy, the border, and social issues motivate Republicans to vote and Democrats continue to struggle to get their voters to the polls,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor, in an email.
With 97% of votes in, according to the AP, Cruz won most rural areas. Counties surrounding Dallas, Tarrant, Travis, Bexar and Harris — the state’s core urban counties — largely went for Cruz, like they did in 2018, though Cruz lost ground in some of them compared to his last election.
Allred won Dallas, Travis, Bexar and Harris counties, but unofficial results have him lagging compared to O’Rourke in 2018. In Tarrant County the margin was razor thin, with Allred up by just under 1,300 votes. (O’Rourke also won by less than a percent in Tarrant County in 2018).
Votes in Texas will continue to be tallied in the coming days as final mail-in ballots and provisional ballots are counted.
“Tens of millions of dollars later and Republican fundamentals like turnout in rural areas and social issues motivate conservative Texans to vote,” Rottinghaus said.
Common sense is “alive and well” in Texas, Cruz told supporters. He highlighted support from Hispanic Texans.
“Everywhere I went, I met Texans who share a simple dream to keep their family safe, to keep their freedom secure and to keep their Texas values strong,” Cruz said. “Tonight we are witnessing incredible results, especially with Hispanics across the state of Texas.”
Cruz also made gains in counties along the Texas-Mexico border, and an exit poll from NBC found that gains with Latino voters in Texas helped Cruz. According to the poll, 55% of Hispanic and Latino voters in Texas said they voted for Cruz, compared to 35% in 2018.
Cruz pledged to secure the border, “unleash Texas energy,” and to defend “our God given rights” as he spoke in Houston on election night.
“Tonight’s victory belongs to all of us, to all of us across the state,” Cruz said, closing his remarks.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 7:36 PM.
