Ted Cruz, Colin Allred face off in 2024 Texas Senate race
The Texas Senate race between incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Colin Allred is being decided Tuesday as voters cast their ballots in the 2024 election.
Cruz is seeking a third term in Congress, while Allred aims to become Texas' first Black senator.
The Texas Senate race is one of the most closely watched races in the nation, as it could play a major role in whether Republicans or Democrats have control of Congress after the election.
There hasn't been a Democratic senator in the state since 1993, but there were signs in polling that the race was tightening in a year when Democrats nationally are defending twice as many Senate seats as Republicans. A surprise win by Allred in Texas would significantly boost Democrats' chances of holding a narrow majority in the Senate.
Cruz, 53, was first elected to the Senate in 2012 and was a presidential candidate in 2016. He narrowly won reelection in 2018 against Democrat Beto O'Rourke and has campaigned to portray Allred as "too liberal for Texas."
Allred, 41, a former NFL linebacker, was elected to the House in 2018. He has focused on abortion rights as a key issue in his campaign, blaming Cruz for the state's strict abortion laws because he supported Republican state lawmakers who approved them and also approved of the three Supreme Court Justices appointed by then President Donald Trump.
In addition to abortion, a key campaign issue that was discussed in the only debate between the candidates, in mid-October, was border security. Allred criticized Cruz for opposing a bipartisan border security bill, while Cruz claimed Allred supports "open borders" and repeatedly voted against new border wall construction. They also clashed over transgender issues.
Allred has said Cruz is trying to distract voters from his own record. From the beginning of his campaign, Allred has continued to remind voters – during campaign events and TV ads – about a trip Cruz took to Cancun, Mexico, with his family during a winter storm in February 2021. The state says 246 people died due to the storm, which left millions of Texans without power. Cruz apologized at the time and returned the next day.
Polls have indicated a competitive race, with Cruz leading Allred by about 4.1 percentage points, according to the latest Real Clear Politics average. The Cook Political Report recently moved the race from "Likely Republican" to "Lean R," which means the race was considered competitive, but one party had an advantage.
Allred outperformed Cruz in fundraising, raising nearly $68.8 million from April 1 last year through Sept. 30 of this year. Cruz raised more than $43.3 million between Jan. 1 last year through Sept. 30 this year, according to the FEC.