New Cook Report forecast for Texas Senate race is bad news for Ted Cruz

Things are not looking good for the re-election hopes of the Republican Party's notorious hardliner in a hardliner state, Ted Cruz.

The Cook Political Report just updated its assessment of the Texas Senate race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican” as there appear to be clear signs of momentum behind Democrat Colin Allred's campaign.

Even among Republicans, the Forecaster reports that Allred was “a black football captain at Baylor University who played for the Tennessee Titans before working in the Obama Justice Department and as a three-term congressman from a business-oriented, center-left Dallas.” “Seat” – is widely regarded as an exceptionally strong candidate.

Although Allred ended June with $10.5 million in the bank, compared to Cruz's $12.7 million, his fundraising pace is believed to have significantly exceeded that of his opponent's campaign, with private Republican polls now reportedly put him at a single-digit lead from victory.

It's clear the pressure may already be bearing down on Cruz, who warned in an appearance on Newsmax on Tuesday that “Chuck Schumer and George Soros are flooding the state of Texas with money” and implored his supporters to “contribute to his campaign.” because we will be flooded.”

That came after he didn't so much as raise eyebrows as blow them away in a Monday interview with Politico when he bragged about his supposed track record of “passing bipartisan legislation” — a claim that perhaps only Cruz makes with a straight face could.

The Senate Bipartisanship Index from the Lugar Center and Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy currently ranks Cruz 89th out of 98 senators for his strong opposition to a seemingly endless list of bipartisan initiatives.

The Texas hothead has also repeatedly attacked Democrats for wanting to “destroy the Constitution and this republic,” fully supported Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and refused to say whether he would accept the results this year would recognize presidential election should Kamala Harris win.

In fact, the only thing bipartisan about Cruz might actually be how bipartisan he is loathed by his colleagues. “I have Democratic and Republican friends,” as former Republican House Speaker John Boehner once put it. “I get along with almost anyone, but I've never worked with a more miserable bastard in my life.”

In any case, the race in Texas is far from over. The Cook Political Report finds that Democrats still have a long way to go and have no guarantees that their significant investment in Allred will actually tip the scales in the recent shift from “likely” to “lean” Republicans Blue ones exist.