Incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is trailing his democratic opponent, Colin Allred, for the first time according to a new poll.
The Morning Consult survey conducted between Sept. 9-18 among 2,716 likely Texas voters, showed Allred ahead of Cruz by one point 45 percent to his 44 percent, which is within the poll’s 2-point margin of error.
It is the first time Allred is leading Cruz in any poll this election cycle. A previous Morning Consult poll conducted between Aug. 30 and Sept. 8 had Cruz 5 points ahead, 47% to Allred’s 42%.
“For the first time in this race, a new poll has us leading Ted Cruz by 1 point. I don’t know about y’all but I’m fired up and ready to WIN! We’ve got 47 days, let’s do this Texas,” Allred said in a post on X.
The poll came one day before Cruz confirmed he would face Allred in a debate next month, which is also a first.
The debate is scheduled for Oct. 15 and is to be hosted by WFAA, the Dallas ABC affiliate.
Cruz narrowly defeated former Rep. Beto O’Rourke in 2018 by 214,921 votes in an election where over 8.3 million Texans cast their ballots.
Still, Republicans are worried about how close the race is.
“What the hell is wrong with the Senate race in Texas ? I think i know …and i think i know his name … time to get some real professionals in to save @tedcruz,” Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, wrote in a post on X.
Other surveys done in the past month had Cruz ahead in the contest by single digits.
An Emerson College poll of 845 likely voters conducted between Sept. 3-5 showed Cruz at 48% and Allred at 44%. The YouGov and Texas Politics Project poll of 1,200 registered voters between Aug. 23 and Aug. 31 showed Cruz at 44% and Allred at 36%.
Cook Political Report rates the Texas Senate race ‘likely Republican’.
