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Ted Cruz called him.
The young state senator predicted that Democratic participation in the Texas Red State would be massive this year for the mid-term elections.
And it was enough for his bid for reelection against Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke is probably too close to be reassured.
In the end, roughly 200,000 votes in a state with more than 15.7 million registered voters separated the two, giving Cruz the win.
While O'Rourke won the vote in the state's largest urban areas (often described as blueberries in Texas tomato soup), Cruz made up for it by winning rural areas and counties at the four corners. of State.
O'Rourke claimed the award for which the two candidates fought in Tarrant County, a Republican county that at least leans democratically.
"Cruz has recorded a really high score in very rural areas of the state," said Cal Jillson, professor of political science at SMU. "Whether in the Panhandle, West or East Texas, he won by margins of 3 or 4 or 5 against 1.
"It was enough, even with the success of Beto in urban areas."
Red counties
A glance at the Texas map showing the counties supporting each candidate in the US Senate race shows a lot of red and a little blue.
To the north, east, south and west, Cruz has won county after county, some by small margins, others by large margins.
Take West Texas, where he easily won in the county of Ector, where Odessa resides, by more than 10,000 votes. In East Texas, he earns by more than 12,000 people in the small county of Angelina, where Lufkin lives.
Look to the south and Aransas County, outside of Corpus Christi, where Cruz won with over 4,000 votes. In the Panhandle, Cruz defeated O'Rourke by more than 8,000 votes in Potter County, where Amarillo resides.
And in the Hill Country, voters in Kerr County, for example, supported Cruz with a margin of over 3 to 1.
"Beto had to overcome about a million Republican voters – and it's a tough mountain to climb," said Nancy Bocskor, new director of the Center for Women's Policy and Public Policy at Texas Woman's University. "Voters in cities and suburbs, even with a large number of new activists, were not enough to defeat voters in rural counties.
"Beto ran so far left over issues such as the removal of President Trump that some voters were not comfortable with this radical change," she said. "But Beto will continue to be the face of a growing purple state and a reflection of the remnant of a very divided country."
Blue counties
O'Rourke has won major victories in the largest urban areas of Texas.
In Harris County, which includes Cruz's hometown, he won nearly 200,000 votes. In his hometown of El Paso County, he won about 100,000 votes.
He won in Travis County, home of Austin, with over 230,000 votes; in Dallas County, by more than 230,000 votes; and Bexar County, by more than 100,000 votes.
(Cruz predicted that Travis County would pick up O'Rourke, claiming before the election that he thought the Hippie Hollow nudist park in Austin would be empty on polling day because "each of these citizens will vote for Texas to turn blue. ")
O'Rourke won in Nueces County by less than 3,000 votes and Jefferson County by less than 1,000 votes.
Tarrant County
Even Tarrant County, a reliable red zone, gave O'Rourke a close win with about 3,800 votes to spare.
"It was a big change, with many more Democrats coming to Tarrant County than we think," Jillson said. "The Democrats voted for Beto O'Rourke and they opposed Donald Trump."
Local Democrats were encouraged when they saw crowds coming together at O'Rourke rallies – as well as major difficulties in the pedestrian streets and voter awareness.
"They felt less alone in Tarrant County and they came out in large numbers," he said. "That does not mean that Fort Worth, Tarrant County, has become a blue enclave. But in a good democratic year, it can become democratic. In other elections, Tarrant will become a republican again. "
Anna Tinsley: 817-390-7610, @annatinsley
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