Election Day and the 2018 Midterms are in the books. Some races in Texas went exactly as expected. Others did not.
The polling showed Senator Ted Cruz with anywhere from a three to nine point advantage over challenger Beto O’Rourke in the final weeks leading to Election Day. The final count was much closer. Cruz won a second term in Washington, but he beats O’Rourke by just a couple of points in a race that no one thought would be close back in March.
“Texas came together behind a common sense agenda,” Cruz said in his victory speech last night.
O’Rourke may have lost, but was proud of getting as close as he did.
“To build a campaign like this one, solely comprised of people; people from all walks of life coming together,” O’Rourke said. “I am forever grateful to every single one of you.”
Political scientist Allan Saxe at UT Arlington says at the end of the day, Beto breathed life into a race no one was expecting to be close.
“It was a great race. He added a lot of energy to the race. It was exactly what we need,” Saxe stated.
In Austin, no surprise as Governor Abbott beat Lupe Valdez to win a second term as Governor.
“We expect Texas to be exceptional, and we will make sure it remains exceptional,” Abbott told supporters in Austin.
Other top state officials won re-election as well, including Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Land Commissioner George P. Bush.
In Congressional races, longtime Houston Republican Congressman John Culberson was beaten by Democrat Lizzie Fletcher. Dan Crenshaw, the subject of a bad joke by SNL's Pete Davidson over the weekend, won the Congressional seat vacated by Ted Poe.
“It’s the biggest honor in the world. We’ve been working on this for almost a year. It’s been an incredible experience all around,” Crenshaw told Jimmy Barrett on KTRH last night.
In other Congressional races of note. Republican Will Hurd won re-election over Gina Ortiz Jones and Longtime Dallas area Congressman, Republican Pete Sessions lost to Collin Allred.