The Dallas Morning News, Texas' largest newspaper, endorsed Democratic challenger Collin Allred in his attempt to unseat Republican Ted Cruz for the state's Senate race on Monday. It could be a needed boost for the Democratic Rep. as he seeks to pull an upset in the state's Senate race.
The latest poll, in fact, shows him within striking distance from his opponent. The survey, released on Wednesday by Emerson College Polling/The Hill shows the Republican ahead by 1 percentage point, 48% to Allred's 47%, with 5% undecided.
"The candidates are roughly even with each other in their net favorability rating, calculated from subtracting the percentage that views them unfavorably from the percentage that view them favorably, with Cruz having a rating of -1 point and Allred having a rating of +2 points" explained The Hill, meaning that the race might be even closed than that 1% indicates.
In fact, nonpartisan forecaster The Cook Political Report recently moved the race from a "Likely Republican" one to a "Lean Republican" one, illustrating how competitive it has become.
Part of Allred's competitiveness in the poll comes from a slight lead among independents, 47% to Cruz's 42%.
The poll also indicated that Allred, a former NFL player and three-term congressman, has continued to increase his name recognition among voters, with only 10% now saying they aren't familiar with him, down eight percentage points from early last month. Cruz, on the other hand, is recognized by almost everyone polled.
Elsewhere, the poll revealed that former president Trump expanded his overall lead over Harris in the state from 5 points in the last poll to 7 points. He also leads the vice president among independents by 2 points.
Texas has been one of the states that Democrats have expressed hope for in a Senate map that otherwise gives Republicans many more possible pickup opportunities. In a strategic move back in late September, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) announced a multimillion-dollar investment in Allred's campaign, primarily used in television ads designed to increase his name recognition across the state
Harris is set to campaign in Texas with Allred on Friday, when she will also be joined by women who have been affected by abortion bans.
Allred announced in early October that his campaign raised more than $30 million over the last three months, outpacing Cruz, who raised around $21 million during the same period.
Both candidates have raised $132 million collectively since the start of the race, which is expected to be one of the most expensive Texas Senate races in the Lone Star state's history.
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