Election News
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz wins third term in Texas race against Colin Allred
Senator Ted Cruz
Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is projected to win a third term as the senator from Texas in his race against Democratic U.S. Rep Colin Allred on Tuesday.
Texas witnessed one of the most expensive and closely watched Senate races in history as the candidates raised more than $160 million combined this election.
An Allred victory would have given Texas its first Black senator and boost the Democrats' chances of maintaining their narrow Senate majority. Texas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988.
The Associated Press proclaimed Cruz the winner. As of 10:39 pm, Cruz had 5,580,956 votes or 53.8 percent, while Allred had 4,563,546 votes or 44 percent; Libertarian Ted Brown drew 231,050 votes or 2.2 percent.
Allred is a Dallas native and former NFL linebacker who played college football at Baylor before entering politics. After suffering a neck injury in a game against the Dallas Cowboys, he enrolled in law school at the University of California, Berkeley.
Allred got into Texas politics in 2014 while working as a voter protection lawyer for then-gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis and the Democratic political group, Battleground Texas. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, defeating long-time Congressman Pete Sessions.
According to the Associated Press, Democrat Julie Johnson won the U.S. House seat that Allred vacated to run for the Senate. Johnson is a trial attorney who will be the first openly gay member of Congress from Texas. She served three terms as a state lawmaker, where she championed LGTBQ rights at the state Capitol. She has also said that women's health care would be a priority of hers in Congress and that she would vote to put abortion rights in federal law.
___________________________
Read the full story at KVUE.com. This story also includes a short passage from coverage by the Associated Press..
