Ted Cruz re-elected, wins third term in US Senate for Texas, reports say
AUSTIN, Texas — Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz scratched out a victory over Democrat Colin Allred on Tuesday night in one of the most watched and most expensive Senate races in the nation, according to NBC News and Fox News.
Cruz, an often polarizing figure on the national political scene, ran behind Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Texas, according to incomplete and unofficial returns, while Allred managed to siphon off at least some support in his hard-charging campaign that began more than a year-and-a-half ago.
"Tonight, the people of Texas have spoken as clear as a bell across our great state," Cruz told a cheering victory party in his home base of Houston. "Texas will remain Texas."
That was a repetition of Cruz's campaign slogan, but his message sought to expand his base as he highlighted his support from some Democrats, most notably District Attorney Kim Ogg of Harris County, who endorsed the Republican after losing her primary in March.
Just as it was when Cruz sliced off a narrow victory against former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, six years ago, Cruz's success was rooted in rural Texas from the Panhandle to the High Plains where he ran up the score. Allred performed strong in the urban and suburban centers.
Sign-up for Your Vote: Text with the USA TODAY elections team.Cruz, 53, will begin his third term as Texas' junior U.S. senator, but perhaps the state's best known because of the national exposure he received as a candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. However, he might find himself in the shadow of colleague John Cornyn, who has spent the 2024 campaign trying to court the votes he will need to secure the Senate's Republican leadership post in January.
Cruz's matchup with Allred emerged as the nation's most expensive Senate race of the 2024 cycle. Both candidates each raised and spent more than $75 million, according to the most recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, and both continued to aggressively seek contributions right up until the eve of Election Day.
And as he did in 2018, Cruz got a late-campaign boost from Donald Trump, who appeared with the senator on Oct. 30. That same day, Allred was part of a large rally headlined by Vice President Kamala Harris in Houston.
Allred's biggest challenge in trying to become the first Texas Democrat to win statewide since 1994 was to attempt to harness the enthusiasm that Harris injected into the party after President Joe Biden quit the race, but without alienating moderate Republican and independent voters who might have become disillusioned with Cruz after his 12 years in Washington.
Cruz leaned into deep-seated concerns over the sharp spike in unlawful immigration during the Biden presidency and sought to paint Allred as soft on border security.
For Allred, the central issue of his campaign was the loss of abortion rights when the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the 49-year-old landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
No campaign appearances, and few TV and digital ads, failed to mention that Cruz cast himself as an anti-abortion hardliner dating back to the earliest days of his political career. For his part, Cruz steered clear as much as he could from discussing abortion policy even though he hailed the demise of Roe in the days after the high court's ruling.
