How will the 2024 Texas Senate race go, and will it be as close – or even closer – than the 2018 election?
That question may be on the minds of some Texas voters, who saw the incumbent senator, Ted Cruz (R), survive a close race in that midterm election against Beto O’Rourke (D). However, that was six years ago, and this is a presidential year in the Lone Star State. A rising red tide may lift all GOP boats, but that does not mean this can’t be a competitive Senate race in the Fall.
Texas is one of only two expected “reach goals” for Senate Democrats hoping to go on offense and expand their map. The other, as previewed in another video, is Florida. In the rest of their key Senate races, Democrats will be on defense. Among the two prizes they are hoping to retain are the Montana and Ohio seats, which may clog up resources that might otherwise be going here and elsewhere.
2024 Texas Senate Race Preview
We look at how Texas used to be an uncompetitive blue state, and then at the end of the 20th Century and start of the 21st, it became an uncompetitive red state. This is not to say, however, that Cruz is off the hook in this 2024 Senate race. We take a look at some key issues in the race, as well as the Senator’s personal popularity (or lack thereof, as the case may be).
Texas 2024 Candidates
Links below are to the candidates’ websites, if available. As always, only click on links you trust.
- Ted Cruz (R)
- Colin Allred (D)
- Ted Brown (Lbt)
- Alyson Kennedy (SWP)
- Dan McQueen (I)
- Analisa Roche (TSP)
2024 Texas Senate Race: Basic Information
Ted Cruz was first elected to the US Senate in 2012, holding a safely Republican seat. As noted above, he had a much closer call for re-election in 2018. Democratic activists have long hoped for the epiphany of “Blue Texas,” and have pointed to low approval ratings for Cruz as fueling that hope, but in a presidential year, could it be a bridge too far?
However, it being this presidential year is an interesting thing. Kamala Harris shook up the presidential race in the summer of 2024, and though it remains to be seen if she will run closer in Texas than Joe Biden, an overperformance by her in November could have down-ballot effects. Cruz should still be considered the favorite until otherwise proven.
Key Sources Cited
Our video on this subject will be re-done soon. In the prior video, we cited the Texas Politics Project at UT-Austin for recent poll numbers related to favorability ratings for Texas elected officials. These include Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, and John Cornyn.
A current list of candidates in Texas elections, including the 2024 Texas Senate race, can be found at Politics1.com.
Allred’s NFL statistics were curated by pro-football-reference.com.
Next Up
We head up to the Midwest to take a look at another critical state in the presidential race: Michigan.
