Sen. Ted Cruz held onto his U.S. Senate seat against Democratic challenger and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred.

Allred discusses what sets him apart from his opponent, why he thinks Ted Cruz is to blame for some of the border problems, and how he feels about being compared to former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, Cruz’s last opponent, who narrowly lost.

Republicans have a stranglehold on every statewide elected office in Texas and control the state Supreme Court, both chambers of the Legislature and both U.S. Senate seats.

The staggering fundraising numbers mean that Cruz and Allred have collectively raised at least $132 million, surpassing the final combined haul from 2018.

The Democratic congressman is polling closer to Sen. Ted Cruz in his challenge this year, and independent race rankers are noticing.

Cruz now has a cash advantage, with $12.1 million cash on hand compared to Allred’s $10.4 million.

The party faces internal tension over the Israel-Hamas war and Biden’s new immigration policy heading into November.

U.S. Rep. Colin Allred raised over $9.5 million for his U.S. Senate campaign this quarter, surpassing Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 first quarter sum of $6.7 million.

Kelcy Warren, a Dallas pipeline billionaire, sued O’Rourke in early 2022, saying the Democrat defamed him with critical comments about his company’s windfall profits after the Texas energy-grid collapse in February 2021.

The Texas Republican has not yet drawn a serious challenger to his reelection bid.

The dearth of competitive down-ballot races could contrast with the last few election cycles in Texas, when multiple congressional seats and state legislative seats drew significant national investment.

Greg Abbott was sworn into office on Tuesday morning for his third four-year term as governor.

In November, The Texas Tribune reported that Beto O’Rourke had given back a $1 million donation that Bankman-Fried had donated to his campaign.

Warren, a Dallas pipeline tycoon, sued O’Rourke in February over accusations he made on the campaign trail that Warren effectively bribed Gov. Greg Abbott with a $1 million campaign contribution following the 2021 power grid collapse.

O’Rourke’s campaign said they gave the money back before the company’s scandals became widely public, because they were taken aback by such a large unsolicited donation.

Beto O’Rourke lost by double-digits on Tuesday night and so did every other statewide Democrat. That has left Democrats in a familiar position: wounded after a disappointing election night while contemplating their strategy and their future.

After seeing Democrats gain momentum in suburbs of Houston and Dallas, Republicans succeeded in reclaiming ground this election. But the GOP is still a long way from returning to pre-Trump support, even in ruby red counties.

The families of some of the 19 children killed at Robb Elementary rooted for Beto O’Rourke, hoping he would help change Texas gun laws. They left disappointed but determined to fight on.

Republicans continued their 28-year dominance of statewide races but fell short of their hopes for a South Texas congressional sweep.

Republicans won all statewide races, including for Texas governor, while Democrats performed well in Bexar County

The governor prevailed after a tumultuous period that included the pandemic, a statewide blackout, restrictions on voting and abortion and the Uvalde school shooting.

Beto O’Rourke challenges Gov. Greg Abbott in the highest-profile race on the Texas ballot

While the GOP focuses on the border and economy under President Joe Biden, Democrats are hoping to prove polls and political forecasters wrong by tapping into anger over the overturning of Roe v. Wade and the Uvalde school shooting.

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has won a third term following one of the most expensive races of the 2022 midterm elections.

See a county-by-county breakdown of the highest-profile race on the Texas ballot.

Beto O’Rourke challenges Gov. Greg Abbott in the highest-profile race on the Texas ballot

Republicans may be waiting to vote on Election Day after former President Donald Trump pushed voting in person on Nov. 8 at a rally in South Texas.

In the homestretch of the state’s governor race, Beto O’Rourke outraises incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott though he still trails in the polls.

The high turnout seen in 2018 may have been an anomaly rather than the start of a long-term trend.

Democrats hope population growth and Republican infighting will help them win in the state’s third-most-populous county — and finally break through in statewide races.

The ad drew swift pushback from Republicans criticizing its use of the gunman’s image.

According to the poll, more than half of Republican voters agreed that immigration and border security are the most important. Democrats’ priorities are more dispersed between abortion, health care, gun violence and climate change.

Nearly half of Hispanic Texans live in the state’s five largest counties, a voting bloc Democrats cannot afford to lose as they struggle to compete in the state’s vast rural areas.

The 11-point margin is one of the wider advantages Abbott has registered among likely voters in a public survey yet. Abbott had a smaller 5-point advantage in the last UT poll, which was done in August, though that was among registered voters.

Early voting is just around the corner, and there are competitive elections across Texas. Professor Jon Taylor, Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Political Science and Geography at UTSA, joined Leading SA to dive into some election detail.

The Democratic challenger ended the latest fundraising period, July 1 through Sept. 29, with slightly more cash on hand than the governor.

His campaign said the massive amount came at a faster clip than his previous, record-breaking haul. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has not released his latest fundraising figures yet but had a large cash-on-hand advantage over O’Rourke at the end of June.

Texas Democrats are embarking on another October blitz in pursuit of flipping America’s big red state.

The soldier is the 10th known Texas Guard member linked to the mission to die since its rapid expansion began in September 2021.

John P. Scott, a former U.S. Secret Service agent, is tasked with ensuring Texas schools implement statewide safety policies and safeguard against school shootings.

Wide-ranging debate delivered few fireworks

Abbott’s team rejected the assertion, saying that O’Rourke agreed to the audience-free debate months ago.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said in his first debate against Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke that Texas would send busloads of migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border to more cities.

In a news conference ahead of the only gubernatorial debate, 35 family members of Uvalde school shooting victims said they would support O’Rourke because of Gov. Greg Abbott’s inaction on gun control measures.

Before the gubernatorial debate between Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke in the Rio Grande Valley, the parents of Robb Elementary students stepped up to the microphone to voice their opinions on one of the state’s most divisive topics: gun control.

The one-hour debate took place in Edinburg. It was the only scheduled debate between the two candidates before the November election.

Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke are set to debate Friday in Edinburg. Voters are hoping both gubernatorial candidates address the complexities of abortion to give voters a clear sense of where they stand before election day.

The Democratic nominee for governor said during The Texas Tribune Festival that he’s counting on a big turnout of voters energized by the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

KSAT 12 will host a virtual watch party in the article's comments at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30.

Tune in on Monday as candidates for statewide offices speak with Texas Tribune reporters Patrick Svitek and James Barragán at the 2022 Texas Disability Issues Forum.

The sudden TV spending by Coulda Been Worse LLC comes as Abbott battles for a third term against Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke.

Both Gov. Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke hope to define the election on issues viewed as favorable to their own parties.

The expenditure, which the Democrat’s campaign announced Friday, comes as GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has dominated the airwaves for over two weeks.

Despite its dwindling population, rural Texas has consistently helped protect GOP dominance in statewide races, even as Democratic support grows in the state’s populous metro centers and suburbs.

The gunman in Uvalde bought two AR-15-style rifles days after he turned 18, the legal purchasing age in Texas, and used the weapons to kill 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary.

O’Rourke said he is resting at home in El Paso and will be back on the road “as soon as I am able.”

Gov. Greg Abbott signed the “trigger law” last year, ensuring that Texas would automatically outlaw abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court ever overturned Roe v. Wade. That happened in June, mobilizing Democrats nationwide and giving O’Rourke’s campaign a burst of momentum.

The governor said Tuesday he has agreed to debate O’Rourke, his Democratic opponent, on Sept. 30 in the Rio Grande Valley.

Any school choice policy must win over rural Republicans, who have historically been against diverting public dollars to private schools.

Final fundraising figures show that both gubernatorial candidates raised a combined $160 million in the November midterm election.

It’s O’Rourke’s largest-ever donation as he runs for governor against Greg Abbott. Abbott, however, maintains a massive fundraising advantage and is no stranger to seven-figure contributions.

Attendees in Dallas seemed energized by the state’s abortion ban, lax gun laws and power grid failures. But they also knew they face major headwinds.

Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott entered this year with a much larger war chest and still has the financial upper hand in the race. He raised $24.9 over the same time period.

The Democratic gubernatorial challenger plans to hold 70 public events in more than 65 counties.

The Republican incumbent’s lead over his Democratic challenger shrank last month, according to a Texas Politics Project poll. The 6-point gap is smaller than when Republican George W. Bush ousted Democrat Ann Richards in 1994.

The Republican governor is stressing one of his biggest advantages — money — as he faces a competitive challenge for reelection.

The Democratic nominee faces an uphill battle in his challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott, and the Legislature is likely to remain under Republican control.

Hundreds of people gathered in Travis Park on Saturday to stand with the town Uvalde, during a call-to-action event in support of the victims and families affected by the mass shooting at Robb Elementary.

The question moving forward is whether Democrats, outnumbered in the Texas Legislature for two decades, will be able to put enough pressure on lawmakers to move on a previously intractable issue in gun-friendly Texas and that Republicans, who support looser gun laws, will fight tooth and nail.

What initially looked like a photo opportunity soon escalated after an activist at the National Rifle Association Convention in Houston confronted US Sen. Ted Cruz, pushing him to take action on gun control laws.

San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller has spoken out against loose gun laws following the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where 19 students and two teachers were killed.

Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke said Monday that he has tested positive for COVID-19.

O’Rourke said he is vaccinated and boosted and tests regularly while traveling the state. A campaign spokesperson said the candidate had no events scheduled for the week.

Gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke returned to San Antonio for a student town hall as part of his “People of Texas Campaign.”

Texas school districts, cities and counties rely heavily on property taxes to pay for roads, libraries, police, firefighters and public schools. But lowering tax bills has long been a difficult endeavor.

For Democrats, especially in Texas, tackling border issues is difficult on the campaign trail as the party is not in agreement about various policies. O’Rourke has had to distance himself from President Joe Biden’s border policies, while going after Gov. Greg Abbott’s.

In a press conference, O’Rourke said the president should have given border communities a plan before ending a pandemic-era immigration rule that will lead to an increase in migrants.

The Democratic nominee for governor slammed the Republican incumbent in harsh terms, presaging a bitter lead-up to an election nearly eight months away.

Gov. Greg Abbott and most other statewide elected officials won their primaries Tuesday night. But Attorney General Ken Paxton was forced into a runoff, and progressive Democrats fell short of their congressional goals.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott will face Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke after voters in Texas opened what could be a lengthy, bruising primary season.

Former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has a book coming out in the middle of his run for Texas governor about voting rights.

The poll shows Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have a significant advantage over their primary opponents. Democratic respondents heavily support Beto O’Rourke for governor but don’t know enough about the party’s candidates in other races.

The two men vying to be the next governor of Texas, and widely expected to face each other in the general election in November, made appearances on the same day and within minutes of each other Wednesday in San Antonio.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made a campaign stop in San Antonio on Thursday to meet with business leaders from across the state.

During his San Antonio visit, O'Rourke answered media questions staying focused on two main issues — the power grid and voting rights.

Gov. Greg Abbott’s openness to marijuana decriminalization shows that the state, while conservative, isn’t immune to larger trends.

Next year, every state official and every member of the Texas Legislature and Congress are up for election. That makes for a big year in Texas politics.

Abbott vetoed legislation in June that would have helped shore up the Universal Service Fund, which supports telecommunications in rural Texas. He said it would have “imposed a new fee on millions of Texans.”

Every statewide office, legislative seat and U.S. House district will be on the ballot next year when the state’s new political maps are expected to be used.

Republican leaders defend their record on the power grid, pointing to more than a dozen laws passed during this year’s legislative session to address the grid’s reliability. Gov. Greg Abbott has staked his reputation on a promise that the lights won't go out this winter.

Demands by Democrats to fix the nation’s broken immigration system were wielded as a cudgel against Republicans during the 2020 campaign.

The GOP slate for statewide office includes two high-profile Latinos and two Black candidates who have previously held state or federal office. Republicans are making a play to be more competitive with voters of color as the state’s electorate grows more diverse.

Sneaking up on a bruised Ted Cruz and almost winning the 2018 U.S. Senate race made Beto O’Rourke a big political name. But after that loss and a poor showing in the 2020 Democratic primary for president, the El Pasoan’s challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott is a different kind of contest.

O’Rourke hit the campaign trail with a pitch narrowly focused on several issues that are largely popular with voters, leaving behind the more incendiary rhetoric from his presidential campaign.

Beto O’Rourke punched out his priorities as a contender for Texas governor and slammed Gov. Greg Abbott during a speech in San Antonio, his first public event since he announced his run.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will be at a press conference Monday morning hours after former Congressman Beto O’Rourke announced his bid for the governor’s office.

Democrat Beto O’Rourke is running for governor of Texas.

Republican incumbents enter their reelection campaigns well ahead of their Republican challengers and with most voters unacquainted with the Democratic challengers in the field, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

Collier says his 2018 close call against Patrick was no fluke. Next year, he’s out to prove that his campaign can make a real challenge to the two-term incumbent.