Cruz a winner, Beto no loser, in midterm election

Ted Cruz stands for something cherished by millions. And Beto O’Rourke stands a little taller today, even in defeat.

That’s the dual takeaway from one of the great duels in Tuesday’s midterms.

In winning re-election to the U.S. Senate from Texas, Cruz not only earned the votes of millions of Texans but realized the hopes of millions of others around the country who support his constitutional conservatism — the same support that very nearly propelled him to a presidential nomination two years ago.

We congratulate Sen. Cruz, wish him well, and urge all Texans — especially O’Rourke’s understandably disappointed supporters — to pledge their support to help the senator advocate for the state’s and the nation’s best interests.

As for O’Rourke, news agency Reuters early Tuesday declared the upstart Democrat a winner regardless of the outcome. And while the declaration was met with derision among some as a “participation trophy,” there’s no doubt that even in his failed bid Rep. O’Rourke grew in stature nationally while putting quite a scare into Republicans.

The national media tend to over-hype those labeled as Kennedy-esque candidates such as O’Rourke, but the El Paso congressman showed staying power in this race and promise for other runs.

In the end, this was a riveting race with a satisfying conclusion for Sen. Cruz, and not a wholly unsatisfying one for Rep. O’Rourke.

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 10:41 PM.