2024-11-06 22:50:03
Andrew Schneider / Houston Public Media
Republican Senator Ted Cruz declared victory against his Democratic challenger, Dallas Congressman Colin Allred, to win a third term as Texas’s junior senator. Preliminary results compiled by the Texas Secretary of State’s Office showed Cruz leading Allred by 55.7% to 42.3% statewide at the time Allred conceded the race.
“Tonight is an incredible night; a huge victory here in Texas,” Cruz said as he declared victory at the Marriott Marquis Houston. “Chuck Schumer tried to buy this Senate seat like it was a piece of Manhattan real estate. But hey learned what we’ve always known, that Texas isn’t for sale, and Texans can’t be bought.”
Cruz and Allred together raised more than $166 million. Cruz raised more than $86.7 million, including funds raised before Allred entered the race, while Allred raised more than $80 million. That made it the most expensive congressional contest in the nation during the 2024 cycle. It also demolished the previous record for a Texas congressional contest set six years ago, when Cruz and his then-opponent, Congressman Beto O’Rourke, collectively raised about $124 million.
Cruz poured much of his war chest into an advertising campaign that sought to paint Allred as too liberal for Texas. He aimed to link Allred to the immigration and border security policies of the Biden administration, even though Allred was one of a handful of Democratic House members who signed onto a Republican resolution condemning those policies. He also heavily criticized Allred for opposing Republican measures to bar transgender athletes from participating in school sports.
Allred spent much of his campaign hammering Cruz’s record of opposition to abortion and reproductive rights, echoing Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign against former President Donald Trump. That attack line was on stark display the next-to-last Friday of the race, when Allred took the stage at Shell Energy Stadium ahead of Harris at her Houston campaign rally. Allred also attacked Cruz’s record on the border, claiming Cruz had done nothing to secure it in his 12 years in the Senate, and he hit Cruz over his flight from the state during Winter Storm Uri and his actions during the January 6 insurrection.
“You know, it shouldn’t be remarkable to have to admit defeat, but in today’s politics, it’s becoming rarer and rarer,” Allred said at his own watch party in Dallas. “I was inspired to run partly because of what I saw on Jan. 6, what happened when people lie about a free and fair election because they weren’t happy with the results.”
In the end, it was Cruz’s messaging on the border and transgender issues that won over more voters than Allred’s on abortion and reproductive rights.
Cruz will return to a Senate that has flipped to Republican control. The shift puts him in line for a plum committee assignment – the chairmanship of the Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee, of which he was previously the ranking member. He’ll also be positioned as one of the prime Senate voices supporting President-elect Trump.
“When I return to the Senate, I carry with me not just a victory but a mandate, a mandate from the people of Texas,” Cruz said. “First, we must secure the border. Not with empty promises, but with concrete and steel and law and order and with the unshakeable resolve [of] knowing we are protecting those we love.”
Additional reporting contributed by KERA’s Penelope Rivera.
