Texas voters on both sides of the political spectrum had strong opinions about Sen. Ted Cruz’s decisive victory over Colin Allred on Tuesday. Statewide, Cruz led Allred, 54% to 44%. In Dallas County and Tarrant County,

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz defeated Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred Tuesday night in what was one of the nation's most closely watched and expensive senate races. Cruz, who will now serve his third term in the U.

Incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Colin Allred's Senate race is among the most closely watched this election cycle.

Results in the U.S. Senate contest between Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Colin Allred could reveal the direction of Texas politics.

The race that could determine who controls the U.S. Senate. An Allred victory would give Texas its first Black senator and boost the Democrats' chances of maintaining their narrow Senate majority. Cruz winning would mean a third term for the incumbent Republican.

"Colin Allred has promised to be the 50th vote, the final vote he needs. They would add DC and Puerto Rico as two new states. They would do that because they believe that would give them four more Democratic senators, and they would do that so that Democrats would never lose the Senate.

The Texas senator was reelected by a nine-point margin, compared to the president-elect's 14-point win in the Lone Star State.

Allred first considered going into sports law, but got into Texas politics in 2014 while working as a voter protection lawyer for then-gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis and Democratic political group, Battleground Texas. Allred was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, defeating long-time Congressman Pete Sessions.

Cruz beat his challenger by 9 points, while Trump prevailed over his by 14 points. Still, Cruz performed better this year than he did in 2018

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.

Texas GOP Chair Abraham George celebrates the wins by Trump and Cruz. He tells Jack Fink where the race for Speaker currently stands and discusses how Latino voters will be "the backbone for the Republican party" in the next cycle.