Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz is in another competitive reelection race, as recent polls finding his Democratic opponent is gaining traction.
Texas has historically been a solidly Republican state, sending Republicans to the Senate every election since 1990, and to the governor’s mansion since 1994. Texas has not voted to put a Democrat in the White House since 1976, and former President Donald Trump is on track to win in Texas again in November.
But recent polling has shown that incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz could be struggling to defend his seat against his opponent, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. The most recent poll to come out of the state, conducted by Morning Consult between September 9 and 18, showed that for the first time ever, Allred was one point ahead of Cruz, on 45 percent to his 44 percent among 2,716 likely voters. His lead was within the poll’s margin of error of +/-2 percentage points.
“For the first time in this race, a new poll has us leading Ted Cruz by 1 point. I don’t know about y’all but I’m fired up and ready to WIN! We’ve got 47 days, let’s do this Texas,” Allred said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
While this is the only poll that has given Allred a lead, others have shown that Cruz is only ahead of the former NFL linebacker by a narrow margin. One recent statewide poll published by Emerson College and The Hill, conducted between September 3 and 5, showed that Cruz was 4 points ahead—a lead just outside of the poll’s margin of error of 3.3 percent.