November 8, 2018 600 AM
FAR WEST TEXAS – Incumbent Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz overtook El Pasoan Beto O’Rourke in a tightly fought and nationally watched race in Tuesday’s midterm general election.
Statewide, Cruz captured just over 160,000 more votes than Beto, just 2.7 percent of all votes cast, one of the closest races in almost a quarter century. No Democrat has won statewide for 25 years.
The senate race was said to be one of the best opportunities for Texas to turn the seat Blue. Beto ran one of the most popular election campaigns in Texas history and according the national reports raised upwards of $70 million, more than any other U.S. Senate candidate in history.
Both Cruz and Beto addressed their supporters Tuesday night with Cruz focusing on the race as a “battle of ideas” and a “contest for who we are and what we believe in.” Beto kept it real, thanking his supporters and at one point providing some colorful language for his feelings, which brought roaring applause from the hometown El Paso crowd when he dropped the F-bomb.
The Far West Texas votes dissected by county did not bring many surprises.
Presidio County overwhelmingly voted for Beto with 73.8 percent of registered voters casting their ballots for the Democrat. All precincts in the county, with exception to Candelaria, had over 60 percent of votes going to Beto.
The border community of Candelaria was an anomaly with over 73 percent of the 15 ballots cast going for Cruz.
Brewster County also swung for Beto, but was a closer call with 52.65 percent and 47.08 percent of registered voters going for Beto and Cruz, respectively.
Jeff Davis County broke from the pack with 60.5 percent voting for Cruz. Although there were many reports of high voter turnout in the region, when all was said and done many votes were still left on the table. For Presidio County, of the 4,884 registered voters, 1,588 votes were cast resulting in only 33 percent of eligible voters going to the polls. Brewster and Jeff Davis counties saw higher voter engagement with 56 percent of registered voters in Brewster and 68 percent voting in Jeff Davis.
