All at Once, Ted Cruz Is the Last Statewide Republican Lawmaker Standing in Texas

In the wake of a blue wave that has washed Republicans around the U.S. out of office, Sen. Ted Cruz will soon be the only remaining Republican to hold a political office elected statewide in the recently deep-red state of Texas.“2026 was not simply a blue wave, it was a blue tsunami,” the three-term Senator said on his podcast following Election Day, when a series of stunning Democratic victories shifted control of both chambers of Congress, as well as Texas’ executive branch and state House, out of Republicans’ hands. “Texas is blue. That is a hard sentence to utter.”Cruz was not up for reelection this midterm season, but every Republican who was on the ballot in Texas’ statewide races this year has been defeated. Incumbent John Cornyn, Texas’ other Republican Senator, lost in his party’s primary to Attorney General Ken Paxton, who went on to lose in the general election to James Talarico. Talarico is the first Democrat the state has elected to the Senate since 1988. Democrat Gina Hinojosa shattered another decades-long streak of Republican victories by beating out incumbent Greg Abbott in Texas’ gubernatorial race, becoming the state’s first-ever Latina governor and the first Democrat elected to the post since the 1990s. The party’s wins in Texas cut beyond those top positions, as well; Democrats on Tuesday claimed multiple seats in the state’s delegation in the U.S. House, as well as its lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, land commissioner, and agricultural commissioner offices; four state Supreme Court seats; a seat on the state’s railroad commission; and control of the lower house of the Texas legislature.“Nowhere are the consequences of this election greater than Texas. In the Lone Star State, we lost every single statewide election,” Cruz said on his show. He noted that he had reached out to Talarico to congratulate him on his win and to tell him that he looks forward to working together. He vowed, however, to “defend Texas” if what he referred to as the “newly elected radicals” attempt to raise taxes or relax border policy, among other issues. Cruz said that Republicans did not do enough in their campaigns to address Americans’ concerns over the cost of living stemming from the war in Iran. “Tariffs have made everything too expensive, and the Iran war has dragged on too long,” he said. “Understandably, people were pissed off, and elected Republicans didn't do enough to address their very real pain.”Cruz, who campaigned heavily for Republicans leading up to the midterms, first won his Senate seat in 2012, when he beat out Democrat Paul Sadler by 16 percentage points. He was re-elected by a far slimmer margin in 2018, however, defeating Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke by only 2.5 points. That year, Trump’s first midterms as president, Republicans gained two Senate seats to expand their majority, but lost the lower chamber, in which Democrats gained 41 seats. In his most recent Senate battle in 2024, a presidential election year that saw Trump win Texas by nearly 14 points, Cruz safely defeated Democrat Colin Allred by an 8.5 point margin. Despite the sweeping defeats his party suffered in the state, Cruz remained optimistic that Texas would return to its prior ruby-red status. “Texas will be red again,” he said. “It is dark right now, but it is always darkest before the dawn. And morning is coming. That is my fervent prayer. And that is my commitment to you.”