Sen. Cruz and Rep. Allred make final appeal to voters in U.S. Senate Race

The general election is on Tuesday, Nov. 5 as millions are expected to turn out to vote. Between Dallas and Tarrant Counties, nearly a million people voted early.

In Texas, the U.S. Senate race remains competitive between Sen. Ted Cruz and Congressman Collin Allred. The two candidates continue to make their final push to voters as they try to sway people their way.

Between political ads and rallies, both candidates have spent a lot of money this election cycle to garner votes.

"This has been the most expensive U.S. Senate race in the country of the 2024 cycle," said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant.

Combined, both campaigns have brought in about $170 million, according to our partners at the Dallas Morning News. The DMN reports Cruz raised about $86.3 million from his 2018 reelection to mid-October, while Allred has racked in $80.1 since the start of the race last year.

"You've seen Democrats contribute in a pretty significant way to Collin Allred, not just because they would like to beat Ted Cruz, but also because the U.S. Senate map is the most advantageous for Republicans in two decades. There really are only probably two states that are even somewhat competitive, Texas and Florida where Democrats could have pickups. Where there are six or even eight maybe states where Republicans could have pickups and when you have a two-seat majority In the US Senate every seat is so so valuable," explained Mackowiak.

"Look, Allred has made this race more competitive I think than most people expected. He's done that with a significant financial advantage over much of this year, but the race has really I think started to turn pretty undeniably In Cruz's direction," said Mackowiak. "It's a close race. It's closer than Cruz wanted it to be, but it's very expensive. All eyes are on Texas in terms of this U.S. Senate race. But in the end, the odds are very very high Cruz wins. The question is going to be the margin."

In 2018 during the midterm elections, Cruz beat Beto O'Rourke by only 2.6 percentage points.

"People have reasons to be optimistic in Texas, poll after poll shows Colin Allred in a statistical tie with Ted Cruz and while early voting ended on Friday, we still have mail ballots coming in. We expect high turnout on Election Day and we really expect to see an increase in turnout in our urban metro regions and I know that volunteers and campaign teams are working really hard across the state to turn those voters out," said Delilah Agho-Otoghile executive director of the Texas Future Project, which focuses on building a more progressive Texas through grassroots organizations across the state.

"There has been a lot of excitement around supporting Colin Allred, both here in the state with local donors and nationally with folks supporting the Senate race. I think we are easily the most viable pickup opportunity for the Senate majority," said Agho-Otoghile. "Over 18 million people are registered to vote in this election. That's more than most states and more than we've ever had in an election, but we're also seeing hundreds of volunteers show up to support Colin Allred and Democrats up and down the ticket."

A Democrat hasn't been elected since 1994.