Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz has officially walked away with his election to a third term in Washington by a margin of about 9 points over his well-funded Democratic challenger, Congressman Colin Allred. That victory is narrower than Donald Trump’s 14-point blowout in the state (the worst presidential result in Texas for Dems since 2012), but it’s nevertheless another devastating disappointment for Democrats. With a dire national Senate map for incumbents elsewhere and some fairly promising polls in the final stretch, Dems had hoped Allred would be able to deliver the ouster that Cruz narrowly avoided six years prior when Beto O’Rourke came within 3 points of victory.
But, as Trump gained everywhere and among practically everyone across the state while Kamala Harris fell flat everywhere and among practically everyone in Texas, Cruz rode Trump’s coattails well enough to make Allred’s slight overperformance insignificant.
Texas Democrats’ pathway to statewide competitiveness all but collapsed Tuesday as they not only failed to run up especially big numbers in the blue urban counties, ceded recent gains in the fast-growing suburbs, and, according to exit polls, bled support among voters of color. Most importantly, per the exit polls (take at least a small grain of salt), they appear to have lost the Latino vote to Trump and Cruz by fatal margins.
