The Texas Senate race could spark a shift in the upcoming months, with Senator Cruz being in a statistical tie with two Democratic challengers, an Emerson College poll revealed.
The survey’s founding
Cruz had 42 percent compared to U.S. Representative Colin Allred, who had 40 percent. Similarly, the Texas Senator and state Senator Roland Gutierrez were virtually tied, with Cruz leading by one point.
Cruz’s nail-biting victory in 2018
In one of the closest races for Senat in decades, Cruz beat Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. The tight race allowed Republicans to spread their influence of Texas further, though, for a brief moment, O’Rurke gave hope that the state was turning purple.
Deciding points
In the end, Cruz won by 2.6 percentage points or around 219,000 votes. The Republican initially gracefully thanked the Democratic challenger but added, “We saw a $100 million race with Hollywood coming in against the state, with the national media coming in against the state. But all the money in the world was no match for the good people of Texas and their hard work.”
Fundraising battle
Allred, a Democrat, announced $4.8 million in fundraising for the fourth quarter, while Cruz confirmed on Fox News that he had gathered $5.5 million. Like Adam Frisch’s in Colorado’s third district, Allred’s fundraising was made mainly of smaller donations, with an average donation of $31.62 in the last quarter.
Ready for change
Allred’s campaign” manager, Paige Hutchinson, signaled Texas is ready for change, saying, “Texas is ready to move past Ted Cruz’s culture wars and division, and with less than a year until the election, we are confident we will have the resources to send Cruz packing.”
The last Democratic Senator was in the 90s
Bob Kruger was the last Senator who represented Texas as a Democrat in the Senate back in 1993. These elections presented several potential matches to Cruz, so it will be an exciting race.
Fighting for the seat
Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez is also running, though Allred is the most popular choice among blue voters with 29 points. He’s followed by Gutierrez, with 7 points, and Gonzalez, with 6. Others are still deciding, though March 5 primaries are fast approaching.
Key voters
In a press release, Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said, “Significant portions of several key constituent groups are undecided in the Democratic Senate Primary, including Hispanic Democratic voters, Gen Z and Millennial voters, and voters without a college degree.”
Advice for the Democrat
The statement further said, “Allred needs to make inroads with these voters, like he has with Democrats in their 60s and those with postgraduate degrees, 52% of whom respectively support him.” Allred, a former NFL player and civil rights attorney, is less popular than Cruz among younger voters, especially those under 30.
Gutierrez’s fighting for Uvalde
The outspoken Democrat’s profile was raised following the Uvalde shooting since he’s representing the district. While Gutierrez admitted he’s a gun owner, he added, “I don’t own an AR-15, and I don’t need one. This gun fires three times the speed of my 9 mm.” While he never questioned the 2nd amendment, Gutierrez had plenty to say about guns and legislatures.
“Certain limitations”
The Uvalde representative said, “We must change what’s going on in our country on this issue. And the only way we’re going to change it is if cowardly politicians like Ted Cruz see the images that I’ve seen and take action, and that action is an assault weapons ban, with certain exceptions and with certain limitations.”
The images are hunting the lawmaker
Guiterrez said the images from the massacre that ended the lives of 19 children and two teachers will haunt him forever. That’s why he called for various gun-related changes and recently wrote on X, “Uvalde happened because cowardly politicians like Ted Cruz haven’t done a thing to fix Texas’ broken system and pass gun reform.”
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