Texas Senate Showdown: Cruz, Allred discuss their campaigns and issues before they debate
Before their one and perhaps only debate, Ted Cruz and Colin Allred spoke with CBS News Texas about the tightening race and the issues. In the presidential race, there's been some movement in the battleground states since last week. Eye on Politics reporter Jack Fink covers this in the latest episode of Eye On Politics. (original air date: October 13, 2024.)
Why the Texas Senate race has become more competitive
Early voting in Texas starts two weeks from Monday, and a respected firm that predicts the polls and fundraising have kept the race between Republican two-term incumbent Ted Cruz and his challenger, Democratic North Texas Congressman Colin Allred competitive.
Third-quarter fundraising results announced last week show Allred hauled in more than $30 million while Cruz brought in more than $21 million.
As previously reported, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is injecting millions of dollars into Allred's campaign to help him try to flip the seat.
If that happened, it would be a political earthquake in Texas — the first time a Democrat would win in the state in 30 years.
The latest four polls listed in the Real Clear Politics average show Cruz leading Allred by about 4.8 percentage points.
The respected Cook Political Report shifted the race down from "Likely R" to "Lean R".
Cook's definition of "Likely R" is these races are not considered competitive at this point but have the potential to become engaged.
"Lean R" means these races are considered competitive, but one party has an advantage.
Allred on the issues
Allred has been crisscrossing Texas and spent a lot of time in the Dallas-Fort Worth area this past week.
That includes a campaign stop in Dallas with the Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Jaime Harrison.
Allred has pushed the abortion issue very hard, and on Tuesday evening, some North Texas women who had troubled pregnancies and had to leave the state to get an abortion held a news conference. They, along with Allred, have blamed Cruz for the state's near abortion ban following the SupremeCourt's decision to overturn Roe v Wade two years ago.
Jack spoke with Allred in Dallas.
"Ted Cruz's abortion ban," said Allred. "He's uniquely responsible for this in a way that no other Texas leader, could claim to be, because he put the judges on the district court, sort of court and Supreme Court level to do this. He backed state legislators, knowing even often in primaries, knowing that they would put in place these laws. He called for and celebrated the Dobbs decision - that it was a massive victory ... I don't think it's been a massive victory for Texas women and families."
Watch Jack's full interview with Congressman Allred:
Cruz on the issues
Senator Ted Cruz hopes to win a third term. He recently began a 53-stop bus tour across the Lone Star State, which has included stops in Tarrant County, where he lost in 2018 to Democrat Beto O'Rourke by just over 4,300 votes.
Jack caught up with Cruz at his bus stop in the courthouse square in downtown Waxahachie in Ellis County, just south of Dallas.
"I think every election should be about that and about the vision of both candidates for the state," said Cruz. "I've spent 12 years fighting every day for 30 million Texans fighting for jobs, freedom and security.
Allred has criticized Cruz for helping to kill what was considered a bipartisan border security bill developed in the Senate that would have tightened the asylum laws, hired more border agents, and brought in more technology. Cruz said he opposed it because it allowed too many migrants into the U.S. before shutting down the border and that he backed a House bill instead.
"Everyone knows my record on the border," Cruz said. "I've been the leading defender of securing the border for 12 years. I worked hand in hand with President Trump to secure the border, and we achieved incredible success. We achieved the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 45 years ... [Allred] voted in favor of open borders over and over and over again... He calls the border wall 'that racist border wall.' He has pledged to personally tear down, quote, 'that racist border wall.'"
Watch Jack's full interview with Senator Cruz:
Tracking the presidential race in the battleground states
CBS News Texas is tracking the battleground states in the presidential race, and since last week, there has been some movement in the Real Clear Politics average of polls: In Arizona, former President Donald Trump leads Vice President Kamala Harris by 0.9 percentage points, which is down from last week.
In Nevada, Harris has increased her lead over Trump ever so slightly to 1.0 percentage points. This represents the largest margin between the candidates in the seven battleground states.
In Georgia, the race has tightened as well, where Trump's lead over Harris has fallen from last week to 0.8 percentage points.
In the Midwest, the Vice President's lead in Wisconsin has shrunk from last week over the former President to 0.4 percentage points.
But some of the big news this week is in Michigan, where Trump has taken the lead from Harris since last week. It's extremely close: he leads by 0.7 percentage points. Trump has also taken a very slight lead in Pennsylvania: 0.3 percentage points.
The candidates were tied in Pennsylvania last week. In North Carolina, Trump is ahead by 0.6 percentage points.
Watch the battleground tracker:
