Ted Cruz congratulates Beto O'Rourke 'he poured his heart into this campaign'
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Texas voters have re-elected Republican Ted Cruz to the US Senate after a tight battle with Democrat Beto O’Rourke.
The Senate seat for the Lone Star state remains ruby red after the historic 2018 midterms, though analysts said Mr O’Rourke brought a wave of Democratic voters to the ballots and could prove a viable candidate in the 2020 presidential elections.
His candidacy may have proven beneficial for Democrats like Gina Ortiz Jones whose bid to win the House of Representatives seat of Republican Will Hurd in the state’s 23rd district was too close to call.
Mr Cruz was not the only Republican to fight back against Democrats threatening the GOP’s hold on the region, however.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott also won a second term by defeating Democrat Lupe Valdez in a race whose outcome was seldom in doubt.
US midterm elections: voters head to the polls
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Mr Cruz congratulated Mr O’Rourke during a celebratory speech on Tuesday night, saying his opponent “poured his heart” into the race.
Meanwhile, Mr O’Rourke said he was “so f****** proud” of his supporters in a viral concession speech that essentially left the door open to his running against Donald Trump in 2020.
The president played a key role in the US Senate race, throwing his support behind Mr Cruz and stumping for the Republican despite the two previously hurling exchanges towards each other in the 2016 presidential election.
To catch up on how the evening progressed follow our live blog below
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It’s nearing 5pm in the Lone Star state, where a slate of Democratic candidates are threatening to unseat a number of Republican incumbents — from Beto O’Rourke, the El Paso Democrat seeking to take over Ted Cruz’s seat in the US Senate, to Gina Ortiz Jones, who is battling Republican Will Hurd to represent the state’s 23rd District.
Win or lose, here’s how Mr O’Rourke and others have forever changed Texas in the 2018 midterm elections.
A female assistant election judge in Harris County has been issued a Class C misdemeanor citation for allegedly bumping a female voter during an argument at the polls.
In a statement, Local sheriff Ed Gonzalez tweeted, “Voters and poll workers should feel safe from harm while participating in our democratic process. We will not tolerate any form of violence or intimidation at the polls.”
A local judge in Texas has ruled nine polling locations in Harris County must remain open until 8pm, after technology issues and opening delays caused a lag in voting across the region Tuesday morning.
The Texas Civil Rights Project and ACLU celebrated the decision shortly after on social media, writing, “WE WON!”
Beto O'Rourke has thanked Beyoncé for her last minute endorsement after the Houston singer posted images of herself donning the El Paso Democrat's campaign merch across social media.
"Thank you, Beyoncé!" the Democratic candidate for US Senate tweeted.
Reports of technological issues and voting errors have been coming out of Texas throughout the day, including at one polling site in Arlington, where workers had apparently run out of paper ballots.
Voting issues appear to have plagued an otherwise historic midterm election in Texas, including one instance in which an election official named Juanita Barnes told a voter, “If I were to wear my blackface makeup, maybe you would understand what I’m telling you.”
The woman voting said the official had been following her throughout the polling site and bumping her while yelling, according to the Houston Chronicle.
The ACLU has called on the Justice Department to investigate apparent voter intimidation in Texas after the US Border Patrol announced it would conduct “crowd control exercises” today in a predominantly Hispanic community. The agency then called off the drills at the last minute.
Below are the nine locations remaining open in Harris County after opening delays and technological issues caused a lag in voting for folks across the region.
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