Republican Sen. Ted Cruz prevailed in a tough reelection campaign, defeating Democratic Rep. Colin Allred in Texas’ unexpectedly competitive Senate race. Cruz’s win is a key hold for Republicans in a seat that Democrats saw as one of their best opportunities for a flip.
Cruz, one of the country’s most prominent and polarizing senators who first took office in 2013, was always considered the favorite in the race. But Allred was a strong challenger for the seat, and polls continued to tightened noticeably in the lead-up to Election Day.
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Cruz, 53, has become a controversial figure since entering Congress, making a name for himself with an extended filibuster on the Senate floor and eventually running for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, placing second behind Donald Trump.
He sparked outrage in 2021 when he traveled to Mexico during a power outage that left many Texans without heat or water during a deadly storm.
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Allred, 41, joined House of Representatives since 2019, after he defeated incumbent Rep. Pete Sessions for his Dallas-area seat in 2018.
Prior to his career in politics, the Dallas native played four seasons in the NFL for the Tennessee Titans after playing college football at Baylor.
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Allred retired from the NFL in 2010 and studied law at UC Berkeley, working as a civil rights lawyer before running for Congress.
Texas has long been a Republican stronghold, but Allred’s perceived strength combined with Cruz’s divisive profile led many to predict that the Senate seat was flippable.
The 2024 Senate map was largely unfavorable to Democrats, who currently have a narrow majority in the chamber and were tasked with defending seats in conservative states like Ohio, Montana and West Virginia. The Senate races in Texas and Florida, which have been more safely Republican in recent years, were framed as Democrats’ only long shot pick-up opportunities.
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