Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Rep. Colin Allred clash over issues of abortion, the border, and transgender rights.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is facing a tight race as liberal backers pour money into U.S. Rep. Colin Allred’s campaign, saturating airwaves with attack ads the week before election day.
The incumbent Republican is predicted by pollsters to likely eke out a win on Nov. 5 over Allred, who wants to become the first Democrat to win a statewide Texas election since 1994.
Democrats believe the reliably red states of Texas and Florida could be at play statewide and in the presidential race. Flipping Cruz’s seat would help them maintain control of the upper chamber, where they hold a 51–49 seat majority.
With the race recently moving from “Likely Republican” to “Lean Republican” by the likes of political analysts at the Cook Political Report, Cruz has urged Republicans to take Allred’s challenge seriously.
Closing Arguments
Cruz is crisscrossing the state on a 50-stop campaign tour through election day in hopes of rallying the Republican base.
During an Oct. 26 campaign stop in Rockwall, Texas, a red suburb outside of Dallas, Cruz called on his supporters to vote early and contribute to his campaign to defeat Allred.
In his closing arguments to voters, he focused on securing the border, reducing inflationary spending, supporting oil and gas, supporting police, and barring boys from competing in girls’ sports.
Meanwhile, Allred has hammered Cruz for supporting abortion bans with multiple ad runs. The ads have also criticized Cruz for leaving the state for Cancun during a disastrous winter storm in February of 2021.
Allred was attempting to drive turnout in the Democratic stronghold of Houston the week before the election. At a rally at Texas Southern University on Oct. 29, Allred continued to target Cruz over abortion rights.
Allred, a former NFL player on his third term as a Congressman, supports securing the border, which is a change from his previous position a couple years ago, when he said concerns about the border were mainly coming out of the “right-wing echo chamber.” He also favors a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who “are working hard and obeying the law.”
He supports “gun violence prevention,” renewable energy with “responsible oil and gas production,” and he wants to protect social security for seniors.
During their only debate this month, Cruz, who has long aligned his border position with Trump, sought to portray his opponent as flip-flopping on the issue because of past comments labeling the border wall “racist.”
Meanwhile, Allred attempted to tie Cruz to the Lone Star State’s abortion ban.
Cruz fell back on Trump’s position during the debate, saying that abortion should be left to the states without clarifying his position.
The two sparred over transgender issues, with Cruz accusing Allred of being in favor of transgender students playing on girls’ sports teams, which many Texans oppose.
Cruz attempted to tie Allred to his voting record against the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act, which bans transgender athletes from participating in women’s sports.
“Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker. It is not fair for a man to compete against women,” he said.
In response, Allred accused Cruz of hypocrisy on women’s rights, saying that while Cruz was willing to support girls and women in sports, the senator failed to help them when it came to their health and the issue of abortion.
Cruz pointed out that Allred voted for the Equality Act, which allows male students to use the same restrooms and locker rooms as girls.
Allred defended his vote, saying he was concerned about protecting the rights of all students under the bill, which would amend civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Cruz Slightly Favored
Recent polls show a close race.
Cruz led Allred by just over one percentage point, 48.3 percent to 46.8 percent, according to a recent Emerson College Poll conducted Oct. 18–21. The poll interviewed 815 likely voters and had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
A Rasmussen poll conducted Oct. 24–25 with 1,002 likely Texas voters showed Cruz with a 5 percentage point advantage over Allred, 47 percent to 43 percent.
A state poll conducted by the University of Texas at Tyler of likely voters found Cruz with 47 percent support, compared to Allred’s 45 percent. Another 6 percent said they were unsure or refused to answer.
Allred has raised $80.1 million this election cycle, nearly meeting Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s $80.3 million war chest six years ago. Cruz won the 2018 Senate race over O’Rourke by just over 2 percentage points.
Cruz has raised more than $86 million, but the Senate Majority PAC announced another $5 million in campaign ads focused on abortion last week that have started appearing across Texas.
Brendan Steinhauser, a partner with the political consulting firm Steinhauser Strategies in Austin, said the Democrats’ spending to oust Cruz moved the needle.
“Well, clearly, Ted Cruz is the target of national Democrats, just like he was in 2018, and we’re seeing a lot of outside money pouring into Texas,” Steinhauser told The Epoch Times.
However, Steinhauser said early voting returns show a good turnout for Republicans, which will help Cruz.
“I think the data is pretty looks pretty good to me, from what I see,” he said. “It does look pretty good statewide.”