--- title: Ted Cruz Wins Re-Election in Texas description: Cruz retained his seat, beating back Colin Allred and keeping alive Texas’ streak of not electing a Democratic Senator in more than 30 years. canonical: https://time.com/7173137/ted-cruz-wins-texas-senate-2024/ author: Solcyré Burga article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-11-06T04:44:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-10T23:05:17.307Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ted Cruz Wins Re-Election in Texas og:description: Cruz retained his seat, beating back Colin Allred and keeping alive Texas’ streak of not electing a Democratic Senator in more than 30 years. og:url: https://time.com/7173137/ted-cruz-wins-texas-senate-2024/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt345e8677cd416b30/698a9bebdb2987786d272c20/GettyImages-2182166503.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Ted Cruz Continues Campaigning For Reelection Across Texas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ted Cruz Wins Re-Election in Texas twitter:description: Cruz retained his seat, beating back Colin Allred and keeping alive Texas’ streak of not electing a Democratic Senator in more than 30 years. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt345e8677cd416b30/698a9bebdb2987786d272c20/GettyImages-2182166503.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ted Cruz Wins Re-Election in Texas > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=53fed7db-8698-4268-a2e0-fa14806d91ef&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Nov 6, 2024 4:44 AM UTC  U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks during a bus tour campaign rally in Killeen, Texas, on Oct. 31, 2024. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speaks during a bus tour campaign rally in Killeen, Texas, on Oct. 31, 2024. Brandon Bell/Getty Images  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Nov 6, 2024 4:44 AM UTC TexasSen. Ted Cruz will serve a third term after winning an expensive and contentious race against Democratic Rep. Colin Allred. Cruz retained his seat after beating back Allred, keeping alive Texas’ streak of not electing a Democratic Senator in more than 30 years. Cruz rose to national prominence when he ran for President in 2016, before dropping out of the Republican primary and eventually endorsing Donald Trump. He has been embroiled in controversies during his time in office,including taking a [2021 trip toCancún, Mexico](https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/18/ted-cruz-cancun-power-outage/), when a devastating winter storm left millions of Texans without electricity. After a failed presidential bid in 2016 in which he traded sharp words with Donald Trump during the primaries, Cruz returned to the Senate as one of Trump’s strongest defenders in key moments**.** On Jan. 6, 2021, Cruz was objecting to the certification of Arizona’s election results when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. Leading up to the attack, a leaked phone call revealed that the Texas Senator had been pushing for the creation of a congressionally appointed electoral commission to assess unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election, per the Washington _Post_.He voted to acquit Trump in both of the former President’s impeachment trials. Trump endorsed Cruz in the race. “It’s hard to believe he’s in a race, because honestly, I don’t know who would want to run against him,” Trump said of Cruz during a Texas campaign event. “He’s really a great senator. He loves the country. He’s tough as hell. He’s always fighting.” Nowwith Cruz’s win assured, Republicans hope they can take control ofthe Senate as Democrats seek to defend a slim majority. **Read More:** [_See a Map of the 2024 Senate Race Results_](https://time.com/7172241/map-2024-senate-race-results/) The nailbiter Texas Senate race mirrored similar political tension in 2018, when Cruz narrowly won a second term by beating Democrat Beto O’ Rourke by [just 2.6 points](https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/06/ted-cruz-beto-orourke-texas-midterm-election-results/). Estimates by FiveThirtyEight showed the gap between Cruz and Allred growing narrower in the days leading up to the election, with Cruz [leading by some three points](https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/senate/2024/texas/general/) as of Nov. 1\. The race was one of the most expensive U.S. Senate races this year. with each candidate raising more than $160 million cumulatively for their respective campaigns, [according to KUT News](https://www.kut.org/politics/2024-10-31/ted-cruz-colin-allred-texas-senate-race-final-push). Cruz raised $86 million overall, and campaigned under the slogan “Keep Texas, Texas.” On the campaign trail, he highlighted his anti-abortion stance, and [signaled support](https://time.com/6189476/abortion-supreme-court-overturns-roe-v-wade/) for the Supreme Court’s 2022decision overturning _Roe v. Wade_. Cruz has also emphasized his opposition to the participation of transgender women in sports, running ads pointing to Allred’s vote against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023, which would bar transgender women from participating in women’s sports. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7173137/ted-cruz-wins-texas-senate-2024/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7173137/ted-cruz-wins-texas-senate-2024/"},"headline":"Ted Cruz Wins Re-Election in Texas","datePublished":"2024-11-06T04:44:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-10T23:05:17.307Z","description":"Cruz retained his seat, beating back Colin Allred and keeping alive Texas’ streak of not electing a Democratic Senator in more than 30 years.","url":"https://time.com/7173137/ted-cruz-wins-texas-senate-2024/","keywords":["2024 Elections","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt345e8677cd416b30/698a9bebdb2987786d272c20/GettyImages-2182166503.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Solcyré Burga","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt345e8677cd416b30/698a9bebdb2987786d272c20/GettyImages-2182166503.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ted Cruz Continues Campaigning For Reelection Across Texas","caption":"Ted Cruz Continues Campaigning For Reelection Across Texas","creditText":"Brandon Bell/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2024-election/","name":"2024 Elections"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7173137/ted-cruz-wins-texas-senate-2024/","name":"Ted Cruz Wins Re-Election in Texas"}}]}] ```