Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Cruz Fends Off O'Rourke in Texas Senate Race
By gvwebguy
Published 6 years ago on
November 7, 2018

Share

EL PASO, Texas — Sen. Ted Cruz fended off a spirited underdog challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke to win re-election on Tuesday in a Texas race that once seemed like a cakewalk but needed a late boost from President Donald Trump to help push the incumbent over the top.

Cruz began as the prohibitive favorite after his surprisingly successful 2016 presidential run, but he suddenly found himself in a tough contest against O’Rourke, a little-known El Paso congressman and one-time punk rocker who became a national political sensation and shattered fundraising records despite shunning donations from outside political groups and pollster advice.

Cruz turned back O’Rourke with the help of Trump, his bitter rival in 2016. Trump took the unexpected step of traveling to reliably Republican Texas during crunch time, staging a Houston rally to energize his base for Cruz just two weeks before Election Day. The president praised the senator as “beautiful” and smart, a far cry from two years ago when he repeatedly mocked Cruz as “Lyin’ Ted,” made fun of his wife’s appearance and suggested that Cruz’s Cuban-born father had a hand in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

O’Rourke Grabbed Glowing National Headlines

With the win, Cruz kept alive his hopes of mounting a second presidential run once Trump leaves the White House.

“It’s the time for choosing. It’s the time for action. We know that the hard-left right now, they’re angry. They’re energized. They’re filled with rage and hatred for the president. And that’s dangerous.” — Sen. Ted Cruz

O’Rourke grabbed glowing national headlines by visiting all 254 Texas counties and often drawing large crowds — even in fiercely conservative areas other Democrats had long since written off. He raked in donations from across the country and even set a new record for Senate campaign fundraising by collecting more than $38 million in the three-month period from July through September alone. All told, he raised a whopping amount — more than $70 million.

Cruz had the support of outside groups but was still being outraised 3-to-1 by the end of the race — a discrepancy he dismissed by saying the “hard left” was energized by outrage at Trump and “Texas will not be bought.”

“It’s the time for choosing. It’s the time for action. We know that the hard-left right now, they’re angry. They’re energized,” Cruz said Monday. “They’re filled with rage and hatred for the president. And that’s dangerous.”

For months, Cruz refused to entertain the notion that he’d lose, saying there are more Republicans in Texas than Democrats, so all he had to do to win was avoid conservative complacency. He also said O’Rourke’s support for impeaching Trump, relaxing federal immigration policy, decriminalizing marijuana and implementing universal health care were too liberal for even many of the state’s moderate Democrats and independents.

Still, the race laid bare that many Texas conservatives never forgave Cruz for clashing with Trump at the end of the 2016 presidential primary and for refusing to endorse him at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland — a move many saw as putting personal ambitions over party. That’s despite Cruz being one of the fiercest supporters of the president and the policies of the Republican-controlled Congress since then, despite getting to the Senate in 2012 as a tea party insurgent intent on enraging establishment leaders from both parties.

Cruz Made No Secret About Wanting to Run for President Again

Cruz, 47, made no secret about wanting to run for president again once Trump leaves office. And though he was tested by O’Rourke, avoiding what would have been a monumental upset means that remains a possibility. O’Rourke himself had been mentioned as a possible 2020 White House contender — but that was dependent on him staying within striking distance of Cruz.

“My confidence is in the people of Texas,” O’Rourke told reporters on Monday night, moments before staging a raucous rally with Mariachi band at the University of Texas at El Paso, mere blocks from his home. “I think we have every indication, based on turnout so far, that we’re going to have a very good day tomorrow.”

O’Rourke’s defeat also dashed Democrats’ decades-long hopes of a booming Texas Hispanic population flipping the country’s largest red state blue, potentially transforming the national electoral maps and all-but blocking a Republican path to the presidency. Cruz has for years warned that a Democratic Texas would mean his party would never again win the White House.

A Texas Democrat hasn’t won any of the nearly 30 statewide offices since 1994, the country’s longest losing streak.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Yastrzemski and Chapman Homers Help Giants Rally Past the Brewers

DON'T MISS

Fresno City Council Finally Passes a Tough Smoke Shop Ordinance

DON'T MISS

Fresno Unified Trustee Wittrup Says District Had Stronger Candidates Than Misty Her

DON'T MISS

Trump Poised to Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say

DON'T MISS

Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production

DON'T MISS

US Farm Agency Withdraws Proposal Aimed at Lowering Salmonella Risks in Poultry

DON'T MISS

On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again

DON'T MISS

Candi Is the Dandy to Add a Little Sweetness to Your Life

DON'T MISS

How Trump Tariffs Could Upend California Farms, Wine Businesses, and Ports

DON'T MISS

Tulare Man Sentenced to State Prison for DUI Crash That Injured Two Women

UP NEXT

Don’t Miss Out! Tower District’s Porchfest Festival Is Saturday

UP NEXT

Fresno Stabbing Leaves Son Dead, Father Charged With Murder

UP NEXT

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jonathan Scott Riester

UP NEXT

18-Year-Old Dies After Shooting Outside Clovis Restaurant

UP NEXT

Five Arrested in Fresno County Robbery Spree. Some Linked to Venezuelan Gang

UP NEXT

Artfully Staged for Takeoff: Fresno Airport Expansion Nears Finish

UP NEXT

Get Ready for a Weather Rollercoaster. When Will Fresno See Its First 90-Degree Day?

UP NEXT

Wired Wednesday: What’s the Future of Fresno Unified and the Superintendent Position?

UP NEXT

Fresno Mayor Says AB 942 Anti-Solar Bill Poses ‘Significant Threat’ to City, Residents

UP NEXT

Newsom Commutes Sentence in 2009 Tulare County Gang Killing

Trump Poised to Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say

3 hours ago

Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production

4 hours ago

US Farm Agency Withdraws Proposal Aimed at Lowering Salmonella Risks in Poultry

4 hours ago

On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again

4 hours ago

Candi Is the Dandy to Add a Little Sweetness to Your Life

5 hours ago

How Trump Tariffs Could Upend California Farms, Wine Businesses, and Ports

5 hours ago

Tulare Man Sentenced to State Prison for DUI Crash That Injured Two Women

6 hours ago

Judge Partly Blocks Trump Order Seeking to Overhaul US Elections

6 hours ago

Two From Search Group That Uncovered Mexico’s ‘Ranch of Horror’ Killed

7 hours ago

US Warns States They Could Lose Transportation Funding Over Immigration, DEI Policies

7 hours ago

Yastrzemski and Chapman Homers Help Giants Rally Past the Brewers

SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Yastrzemski and Matt Chapman homered as the San Francisco Giants rallied to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-5 on Thursday ...

56 minutes ago

56 minutes ago

Yastrzemski and Chapman Homers Help Giants Rally Past the Brewers

1 hour ago

Fresno City Council Finally Passes a Tough Smoke Shop Ordinance

2 hours ago

Fresno Unified Trustee Wittrup Says District Had Stronger Candidates Than Misty Her

President Donald Trump delivers remarks during an 'Unleashing American Energy' event at the Department of Energy in Washington, U.S., June 29, 2017. (REUTERS File)
3 hours ago

Trump Poised to Offer Saudi Arabia Over $100 Billion Arms Package, Sources Say

4 hours ago

Lights, Camera, Board Vote: Fresno Unified’s Carefully Choreographed Production

Chickens sit at a poultry farm. March 12, 2025. (REUTERS/Diego Vara/File Photo)
4 hours ago

US Farm Agency Withdraws Proposal Aimed at Lowering Salmonella Risks in Poultry

4 hours ago

On Major Economic Decisions, Trump Blinks, and Then Blinks Again

Candi, GV Wire's Adoptable Cat of the Week
5 hours ago

Candi Is the Dandy to Add a Little Sweetness to Your Life

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend