Despite reelection, Ted Cruz significantly underperformed Trump's vote share along Texas' southern border
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Republican Ted Cruz was reelected to a third term in the U.S. Senate after defeating Congressman Colin Allred in Tuesday’s election.
Cruz received just shy of 6 million votes statewide, about 1.7 million more than he did in the 2018 election. Allred won a little more than 5 million voters, about 950,000 more than Beto O’Rourke did in 2018.
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Cruz won the most votes in 235 of Texas’ 254 counties, seven fewer than Donald Trump won in the presidential race.
Allred was able to win the most votes in Cameron, Duval, Hidalgo, Tarrant, Webb, Willacy and Williamson counties, despite Harris losing those counties in her matchup with Trump at the top of the ticket.
Statewide, Trump outran Cruz’s margins in almost every county, especially along Texas’ southern border. While Trump carried the state with a 13.83 point margin, Cruz won by 8.63 points.
The difference was most notable in Duval County, located between Laredo and Corpus Christi. Trump won the county by 9.94 points, but Allred won the county in the Senate race by 7.49 points — meaning Trump outran Cruz by 17.43 points in the county.
Trump also performed better than Cruz in the state’s largest cities — outrunning the Senate candidate by 6.37 points in Bexar County, 6.3 points in Dallas County, 5.85 points in Harris County, 5.35 points in Tarrant County and 3.96 points in Travis County.
Cruz outperformed Trump’s margins in only two rural counties, running ahead by 0.69 points in Borden County and 1.43 points in King County.
