Ted Cruz’s campaign team said they are in the “fight of our lives,” as recent polling suggested the Texas Senate race is essentially tied.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Team Cruz account posted a link to the Republican‘s campaign and fundraising website while stating “November 5th is almost here! We are in the fight of our lives.”
The post comes after a recent Morning Consult poll of 2,716 likely voters showed that Cruz’s Democratic rival, Colin Allred, was ahead in the 2024 Texas Senate race for the first time (45 percent to 44 percent). Allred’s lead was within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Elsewhere, a Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation survey of 1,200 likely Texas voters showed Cruz leading Allred by 3 points (48 percent to 45 percent), nearly within the margin of error of 2.83 percentage points.
Ted Cruz during a hearing in Washington, D.C., on July 30, 2024. Cruz’s campaign team said they are in the “fight of our lives” following recent polling.
ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images
The offices of Cruz and Allred were contacted for comment via email.
The polling suggests that Cruz is in another tight reeelction campaign, just like his 2018 race with former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke.
A number of Democratic figures have suggested that the historically strong red state of Texas could be in play this year as the party hopes to keep hold of the upper chamber, as well as for Kamala Harris in her presidential race with Donald Trump.
If Allred were to flip the Texas senate seat from Cruz in November, he would become the first Democrat senator in the Lone Star state since 1988.
Michigan Senator Gary Peters, the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said the party is looking at boosting efforts to flip Texas and Sen. Rick Scott‘s Florida seat in November.
Speaking to Axios, Peters said Florida and Texas “are real and we hope to get resources into those states.”
Flipping either Florida or Texas could be a major plus in the Democrats‘ hopes to keep control of the Senate, where they effectively have a 51-49 majority.
Polling suggests that Montana Sen. Jon Tester may lose his seat to Republican Tim Sheehy, with the GOP also widely expected to flip the West Virginia seat held by outgoing Democrat-turned-independent senator Joe Manchin in November.
However, forecasters and experts are suggesting that Cruz will still come out on top in the close Texas Senate race.
“Cruz’s close call with O’Rourke in 2018 took place in an election year that favored Democratic candidates, and whether 2024 ultimately turns out to favor one party or neither remains to be seen,” Joshua Blank, director of research for the Texas Politics Project at The University of Texas at Austin, previously told Newsweek.
“Republicans still maintain an advantaged position in Texas, but that advantage is clearly diminishing, and the electoral environment is a big factor in determining how close the election ultimately turns out to be.
“But barring unforeseen circumstances, I think it’s highly unlikely that Allred will beat Cruz in this election, though I still expect a close race,” Blank added.
Forecasters Race to the White House are also giving Cruz a 70 percent chance of winning the race.