Cruz leads Allred in the first round of the race for U.S. Senate

The Dallas Morning News is live Election results for local, state and national races.

HOUSTON – Republican Ted Cruz was ahead of Democrat Colin Allred in the first unofficial results of the U.S. Senate election Tuesday night, with 48% of precincts reporting.

Cruz had about 51% of the vote, Allred had 47%.

The contest became one of the hottest Senate races in the country despite the state trending to the right, with the two campaigns and outside groups spending hundreds of millions of dollars together.

Cruz pushed throughout the race to make it a surrogate for the presidential campaign, emphasizing his allegiance to former President Donald Trump and linking Allred to the border and immigration policies of Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden.

He portrayed Allred as too liberal for Texas based on the frequency with which the three-term congressman voted along with his fellow Democrats.

Allred kept the presidential contest at arm's length for most of the race, portraying it as a simple referendum on Cruz and criticizing him for focusing more on podcasts than on the needs of Texans.

Allred vowed to restore abortion rights that had been gutted by the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision and sharply attacked Cruz for his support for abortion restrictions.

High hopes

Democrats approached the race optimistic that they could end a 30-year drought in which they had zero wins in statewide races. They were encouraged by their performance in 2018, when Beto O'Rourke fell 2.6 percentage points short of defeating Cruz.

Allred was the leading candidate in a crowded primary field that included his main rival for the nomination, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez.

Allred was a prolific fundraiser from the start and used the money aggressively to introduce himself to voters outside his U.S. House district in Dallas.

He told them that he never knew his father and was raised by a single mother who worked as a public school teacher. A football scholarship enabled him to attend Baylor University.

Every NFL team passed over him in the draft, but he worked hard to be a versatile role player and earned a spot on the Tennessee Titans' roster. He played for several seasons before an injury in a game against the Cowboys caused him to trade his shoulder pads for law books.

After graduating from law school, he worked as a civil rights attorney and served in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Obama administration.

During the primaries, Gutierrez sharply criticized Allred for being too willing to compromise with the Republicans.

Allred brushed aside those attacks and stuck to his message of bipartisanship, which he said was the best way to beat Cruz and get things done once he's elected.

He said he was first elected to Congress in 2018 by assembling a broad coalition of voters that included independents and Republicans when he defeated longtime incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions in a GOP-leaning district.

Cruz was ready and waiting

The close decision in 2018 left Cruz on guard, anticipating that Democrats would again spend heavily against him.

The two-term senator was a household name in the 2024 race thanks to high-profile clashes with Democrats, his 2016 presidential bid and a ubiquitous presence in conservative media.

During his first term, Cruz launched a filibuster-style talkathon in the Senate that lasted more than 21 hours as he railed against the Affordable Care Act.

The end result was not the cut in health care law funding he had hoped for, but rather extensive media coverage and the admiration of many among the emerging Tea Party crowd.

He clashed sharply with Trump during the 2016 presidential election, angering some of the former president's supporters when he refused to endorse him during his speech to the Republican National Convention, but he became a loyal Trump ally.

His national profile was a double-edged sword, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.

“He is able to raise a lot of money from Republicans who want to see Texas red, but he also has a lot of negative votes,” Rottinghaus said.

Cruz quickly went after Allred, noting that he was out of step with most Texans.

“My opponent, Colin Allred, is a radical, left-wing politician,” Cruz said.

Cruz's message was clear in his campaign theme: Keep Texas, Texas.

In the competition for the title of most non-partisan

Allred made a commitment to bipartisanship a focus of his campaign, citing his support for policies on infrastructure, chip manufacturing and school security.

“All the ads, all the topics he talked about, his demeanor was all about being in the middle of it all,” Rottinghaus said.

Allred had the support of several Republicans, including a former colleague, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who criticized Cruz's attempt to block the certification of Biden's victory in 2020.

Cruz at times struck a different tone than his usual sharp attacks on Democrats.

He highlighted bipartisan bills he pushed as the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, including a federal aviation law and legislation that eased permits for several bridges over the Rio Grande.

He also had the support of some Democratic officials in Texas, including Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and several border sheriffs.

Cruz frequently returned to portraying Allred as just another liberal Democrat.

“He knows what can work and has tried to stay true to the things that got him where he was,” Rottinghaus said of Cruz. “He’s a pugilist and an instigator, and that’s worked well for him in Republican circles.”

Money, money, money

The race was one of the most expensive in the country. Both candidates were able to raise tons of cash, and outside money also came in. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has poured at least $13 million into co-advertising with Allred.

Cruz filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission that DSCC spending violated the rules, but Democrats said they would pursue the same approach as Republicans in other races.

During appearances in conservative media, Cruz sounded the alarm that he might be in over his head.

The pro-Cruz super PAC Truth and Courage spent more than $25 million supporting him. Other groups also got involved, including a super PAC affiliated with the conservative Club For Growth.

“Allred's greatest strength was that he could raise enough money to position himself where he wanted and maintain his message even when Cruz attacked him from the ideological right,” Rottinghaus said.

A mix of serious problems

After the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, Allred made protecting abortion access the focus of his campaign.

That included delving into the stories of Texas women who faced health complications because they were denied abortions because of the state's strict abortion ban.

In the final days of the campaign, ProPublica published an article about Josseli Barnica, a woman who died after doctors said it was a crime under state law to intervene in her miscarriage while a fetal heartbeat could still be detected.

Cruz has been a vocal supporter of abortion bans but has been quieter on the issue during the campaign. Overturning Roe brought the issue back to the state legislature, he said, and Allred should address the matter.

Cruz expressed sympathy for cases like Barnica's and said Texas law is clear that any procedure necessary to save the mother's life can and should be performed.

Cruz leaned heavily on border security and illegal immigration, citing people killed by immigrants who entered the country illegally.

He often mentioned Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old girl in Houston who authorities say was murdered by two men from Venezuela who were released from custody after entering the country illegally.

Cruz has passed laws designed to prevent such releases.

Allred responded by accusing Cruz and Republicans of blocking a bipartisan border and immigration proposal.

In the final stages of the race, Cruz Allred hit out at LGBTQ issues and criticized him for voting against House Resolution 734, the “Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act,” which would bar school sports programs from admitting individuals , whose biological sex at birth was male, to participate in programs for women or girls.

Allred responded that Cruz was trying to distract from his record. In one ad, Allred said, “I don't want boys playing girls' sports or any of that ridiculous stuff Ted Cruz says.”

Allred questioned Cruz's role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, saying he defended the Capitol while Cruz hid in a supply closet.

Cruz said anyone who committed violence that day should be prosecuted, but the Biden administration targeted those who protested peacefully.

The outcome of the race will help shape politics in the state, which is undergoing massive changes due to an influx of new residents and evolving demographics.

“Democrats are still trying to figure out what the secret is to winning Texas,” Rottinghaus said. “Is it a moderate candidate who can appeal to a cross-section of voters, or is it just a grassroots effort where whoever gets their voters out will win?”