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The Texas race that received the most national attention was the U.S. Senate race between U.S. Rep. Colin Allred and incumbent Ted Cruz.

As Democrats hope to maintain control of the U.S. Senate, Allred’s win would help widen their slim lead. Cruz is locked in another close race as he seeks his third term and is turning to conservative talk to strengthen his base.

Allred’s fight for Cruz’s Senate seat began in May 2023, when she announced her plan to unseat the Republican and become the Lone Star State’s first Black senator.

Throughout her 18-month campaign, Allred sought to label Cruz as dangerous and pointed to his efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election by refusing to certify the election results. Allred also accused Cruz of cheering for a crowd hiding in a supply closet at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Allred has frequently criticized Cruz’s stance on Texas’ strict abortion laws, saying: “Women should have the freedom to make their own reproductive health decisions without government interference.”

In campaign messaging, Allred didn’t let Texans forget Cruz’s impromptu visit to Cancun during the deadly 2021 winter storm, which caused temperatures to drop well below freezing for nine consecutive days, crimping the state’s power grid and knocking out power to millions. Cruz drew outrage over the trip, with many saying he should have stayed home to help his constituents.

When Cruz went on the attack, he labeled Allred “anti-woman” and “anti-parent” and said Allred voted to allow boys into girls’ locker rooms and voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023. Cruz attacked Allred. His voting record said he was “too extreme” and “too liberal” for Texas and was “out of touch” with voters in the state.

Allred said in their only debate that Cruz is one of the most divisive senators in Congress, and that if people don’t like what’s going on in Washington, D.C., Cruz is solely to blame. Cruz said Allred has a radical agenda and wants to destroy Texas by giving illegal immigrants the right to vote, turning Texas blue and changing the Republican state leadership.

Allred was born and raised in North Dallas and attended Hillcrest High School. He is a former NFL linebacker who was a standout at Baylor University and later went to law school at UC Berkeley. Since retiring from professional football, Allred has worked under Julián Castro at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration. He later returned to private practice and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018 to represent Dallas in Dist. 32.

Before joining the U.S. Senate, Cruz clerked for Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist, served as deputy attorney general, worked for the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, and was Texas’ attorney general from 2003 to 2008. Cruz is a lawyer and has degrees from Princeton and Harvard. Cruz was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, winning the seat vacated by retired U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and narrowly re-elected six years later in the most expensive U.S. Senate race in Texas history.

Cruz ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, and withdrew his support for the party’s eventual nominee, Donald Trump, for several months, calling him a “pathological liar” and a “narcissist.” Cruz eventually supported Trump and now considers him an ally.

Texas Democrats haven’t won a statewide office since 1994. Bob Kreuger was the last Democratic U.S. Senator to represent Texas. Kreuger served in office for five months in 1993 after being appointed by Gov. Ann Richards to fill the term vacated by Democrat Lloyd Bentsen, who resigned to become U.S. Treasury Secretary. Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison was elected to finish Bentsen’s term in June 1993.