Rep. Colin Allred announced that his Senate campaign had raised more than $2 million in a day and a half in their race to defeat Sen. Ted Cruz.
Rep. Allred tweeted:
I’ve been a part of some incredible teams in my life, but y’all have helped me raise over $2 million in just 36 hours since I announced my campaign to represent all Texans.
Together, we set a record for this cycle raising the most in the first day of a Senate campaign.
— Colin Allred (@ColinAllredTX) May 5, 2023
To add some context, Allred raised as much money in less than two days than Beto O’Rourke raised in the entire first quarter of his Senate campaign against Cruz:
This is almost exactly equivalent to Beto O’Rourke’s first quarter of fundraising in 2017. https://t.co/ykT0H4Bky1
— Will Jordan (@williamjordann) May 5, 2023
The 2018 Senate election launched Beto O’Rourke into national prominence as he narrowly lost to Cruz in one of the reddest states in the country by 2.6 points or 219,000 votes.
There are definite signs of trouble for Cruz in his favorability rating as Texas voters are split 45%-44% on the Republican incumbent senator’s approval rating.
Senator Cruz (R) has spent the years since running against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 cozying up to the former president.
However, Trump has consistently struggled with voters in Texas. According to the April 2023 Texas Polling Project Poll, Trump’s approval is underwater among all voters in Texas (42%-48%), but he remains immensely popular with strong Republicans (86% approval).
It appears that Cruz could be in for another close reelection campaign, and if Allred keeps raising money, the long-elusive statewide win for Democrats in Texas has a chance of coming true in 2024.