There were few surprises Tuesday night as Texas voters headed to the polls to mark the first primary of the 2018 midterm election cycle. It’s still unclear whether Democrats’ performance in Texas Tuesday night is enough to foreshadow a wave election in November.
Who won?
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, appeared to easily win the GOP nomination, and as of midnight, Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, appeared to have clinched the Democratic nomination with more than 60 percent of the vote. The results rolled in slowly Tuesday night, after polls closed at 7 p.m. local time and 8 p.m. EST.
In Texas, a candidate must secure at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff election, which is scheduled for May 22.
George P. Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also avoided a runoff election Tuesday night, in his bid to be the GOP nominee for Texas land commissioner.
In the 32nd District, Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, easily clinched the nomination, but no Democrat appeared to have obtained enough votes to move forward without a runoff election.
A seeming surge of among Democrats is enough to concern Cruz, who is fighting for reelection for the first time since entering the Senate in 2013.
“If conservatives are complacent — we know that the left is going to show up,” Cruz said on the Hugh Hewitt radio show Tuesday. “The extreme left, they’re angry, they’re filled with rage, they hate the president. And mark my words, we are going to see historic turnout from the extreme left in November, which means if conservatives stay home, we have the potential, we could lose both houses of Congress. We could end up with a Speaker Pelosi and a Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. In Texas, if conservatives stay home, if we rest on our laurels, we could see Texas turn blue. We could see every statewide official in the state turning Democrat.”
What to watch for in Tuesday’s Texas primary
How CBS News estimates whether House races will be competitive in 2018
Cruz’s real challenge will come in November, when he’ll likely be facing O’Rourke, a three-term congressman.
Some of Democrats’ energy is reflected in the number of candidates running. For the first time in a quarter of a century in Texas, there’s a Democrat running for all 36 congressional seats. And Democrats are expected to pick up some vulnerable seats from Republicans.
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