Ted Cruz Squeaks Past Beto O’Rourke for United States Senate

By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2018

Democratic Party Candidate Congressman Beto O’Rourke charismatic campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Party Candidate Ted Cruz for the United States Senator seat in the State of Texas fell short, but not before incumbent Senator Ted Cruz sweated it out with a squeaking win over O’Rourke by only 220,552 votes out of a total of 8,292,447 votes cast in the race.

According to the Texas Secretary of State, Ted Cruz received a total of 4,224,065 votes (50.93%) compared to challenger Beto O’Rourke’s 4,003,513 votes (48.27%) and Libertarian Party Candidate Neil M. Dikeman received 64,869 votes (0.78%).

Senator Ted Cruz is re-elected to another six year term in the United States Senate.

Despite O’Rourke’s personal lost to Cruz, O’Rourke’s strong coat tails positively assisted many Democratic Party candidates to get elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, State Senate, State House of Representatives, Texas Court of Appeals, District Courts, County offices, and local races.  

O’Rourke went from being an unheralded Congressman from the United States-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas to becoming one of the Democratic Party’s rising star. O’Rourke built a campaign coalition of young people, minorities, and women that will definitely change the political spectrum in the State of Texas for years to come.

O’Rourke told his supporters at his Election Night Rally in El Paso that “I am as inspired, as hopeful, as I have ever been in my life, and tonight’s loss does nothing to diminish the way that I feel about Texas or this country.” O’Rourke added that “If there’s anything we can do to help him (Ted Cruz) in his position of public trust to ensure that Texas helps to lead this country in a way that brings us back together around the big things we want to achieve…I want to work with him.”