AUSTIN, Texas — As the polls close across Texas, you can use this map to monitor live election results.
Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz is projected to win a third term as the senator from Texas in his race against Democratic U.S. Rep Colin Allred on Tuesday.
Texas witnessed one of the most expensive and closely watched Senate races in history as the candidates raised more than $160 million combined this election.
An Allred victory would have given Texas its first Black senator and boosted the Democrats' chances of maintaining their narrow Senate majority. Texas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988.
How long has Ted Cruz been in office?
Cruz started serving Texas in the U.S. Senate in 2013 after defeating Democrat Paul Sadler. Cruz took over the seat previously held by Kay Bailey Hutchinson, who decided not to seek re-election in 2012.
The Harvard-education Cruz became the first Hispanic to serve as a U.S. senator from Texas. Before that, Cruz served as a domestic policy advisor to George W. Bush during his 2000 presidential campaign and served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to 2008.
Who's running against Ted Cruz?
Allred, a Dallas native and former NFL linebacker who played college football at Baylor before entering politics. After suffering a neck injury in a game against the Dallas Cowboys, Allred retired and enrolled in law school at the University of California, Berkeley.
Allred 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 the Democratic political group, Battleground Texas. Allred was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, defeating long-time Congressman Pete Sessions.
Previous Senate races
Cruz easily defeated Sadler by more than 1.2 million votes in 2012 but needed every vote possible to defeat Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke in 2018.
Only 215,000 votes separated the two as Cruz managed to use rural and mid-sized Texas counties to secure his second term. It's something he leaned on again in the days before the election.
Texas hasn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.