Texas is red. Again. Honestly, if you’ve lived here long enough, that shouldn’t be a shocker, but the Texas senate results 2024 tell a much weirder story than just "Republicans won." People kept saying this was the year the "blue wave" finally hit the Gulf. It didn't. Instead, Ted Cruz didn't just win; he kind of crushed it compared to his 2018 nail-biter against Beto O’Rourke.
Cruz took home about 53.1% of the vote. Colin Allred, the former NFL linebacker who Democrats hoped would be the giant-slayer, finished with 44.6%. That 8.5-point gap is huge. It’s basically double the margin Cruz had six years ago.
So, what happened? Why did the most expensive Senate race in the country—we’re talking over $160 million spent—end with a Republican incumbent widening his lead?
The Money Didn't Buy the Seat
Chuck Schumer and the national Democrats poured money into Texas like they were trying to buy a skyscraper in Austin. Allred raised over $80 million. Cruz raised even more, pushing past $86 million. It was a literal arms race of TV commercials.
If you turned on a TV in Dallas or Houston last October, you couldn't escape it. Allred went hard on abortion rights. He brought out women like Amanda Zurawski and Kate Cox, who had been personally affected by Texas’s strict bans. It was a powerful, emotional message.
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Cruz, meanwhile, went for the jugular on the border and transgender issues. He basically spent millions to tell Texans that "Colin Allred is Kamala Harris." In a state where Trump won by double digits, that's a lethal comparison. Cruz’s "Keep Texas, Texas" bus tour hit the ground running in rural spots where Allred was basically a ghost.
Where Allred Lost the Plot
Democrats always bank on the "big blue dots"—Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin. They expect to run up the score there to cancel out the red sea of West Texas.
It didn't work this time.
Voter turnout was actually down. About 61% of registered Texans showed up, which sounds okay until you realize it’s a 6% drop from 2020. The drop-off was most painful for Allred in places like Harris County (Houston) and Dallas County. In Houston, Kamala Harris only won by about 5 points. For context, Biden won it by 13 in 2020.
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If the top of the ticket is bleeding support, the down-ballot Senate candidate is going to feel it. Allred did slightly better than Harris in some spots, but he couldn't outrun the math.
The Hispanic Vote Shift
This is the part that’s making political consultants pull their hair out. For decades, the "demographics is destiny" crowd argued that as Texas became more Hispanic, it would inevitably turn blue.
The 2024 results threw a wrench in that.
Cruz actually won a slight majority of Hispanic and Latino voters. Let that sink in. He flipped several counties in the Rio Grande Valley—places that have been Democratic strongholds for a century. South Texas is moving right, and it’s moving fast. These voters cared more about the price of gas and border security than the cultural issues the DNC was pushing.
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The "Sane vs. Crazy" Strategy
Cruz played a very specific game. He spent the last six years trying to soften his image—or at least show he could be productive. He talked about his 100+ legislative "wins" and his work on the commerce committee.
Then, he turned around and framed the election as a choice between "sane and crazy."
He hammered Allred on his past votes regarding transgender athletes in sports. It was a culture war play, sure, but it resonated in the suburbs. Allred tried to counter by calling Cruz a "bipartisan faker" and reminding everyone about the Cancun trip during the 2021 freeze.
Everyone remembers the Cancun thing. But apparently, more people cared about the border.
Actionable Insights: What This Means for You
If you’re trying to make sense of where Texas goes from here, stop looking at the "turning blue" narrative. It’s a distraction.
- Watch the Suburbs: The real battleground isn't the cities; it's places like Collin and Denton County. Cruz won Collin County by nearly 10 points. If Democrats can't win the "soccer mom" vote in the Dallas suburbs, they can't win the state.
- Economic Reality: Hispanic voters in Texas are voting like "kitchen table" conservatives. If you're a political observer, ignore the national talking points and look at local economic sentiment in South Texas.
- The Funding Trap: Don't assume a massive war chest means a close race. Allred had all the money in the world and still lost by nearly 9 points. In a state as big as Texas, money buys airwaves, but it doesn’t always buy trust.
- Registration vs. Turnout: Texas added millions of new residents, but a record 14 million people sat this one out. The "non-voter" is the biggest political party in the state.
Texas remains a Republican fortress, but the internal architecture is changing. The move of rural and border communities toward the GOP is a realignment that will likely define the next decade of American politics.