Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz is pitching himself as a bipartisan problem solver in his increasingly desperate attempts to stave off the latest Democratic challenge to his Senate seat.

But one of his recent ads tells a different story. Despite his more moderate rhetoric, Cruz is still leaning into his tired and hateful playbook of anti-LGBTQ+ resentment.

A new poll out of Texas shows Cruz clinging to a 1-point lead over Colin Allred. The two-term incumbent is even losing ground compared to where he was in August, when he was nursing a 2-point lead.

One of the most unpopular senators in Washington, Cruz is bruised with a favorability rating of -8. Allred, meanwhile, enjoys a favorability rating of +5.

With a football background–he played college ball at Baylor and linebacker for the Tennessee Titans–Allred appears to be made out of central casting. The Dallas-area rep is hoping to become the first Texas Democrat elected statewide since 1992.

National Democrats sense an opportunity, allocating $79 million to the Lone Stat State for ad buys and staffing. Allred, who’s gaining on Cruz in the fundraising battle, has spent $26.2 million on general election TV ads, compared to about $14.3 million for Cruz.

Though Texans remains a red state, the demographics are shifting. Mitt Romney carried Texas by 16 points in 2012, while Trump won by just 6. Cruz barely hung onto his Senate seat in 2018, squeaking past Beto O’Rourke by less than 220,000 votes.

With those trends in mind, Cruz was freaking out over his reelection chances months ago. His desperation first came in the form of conspiracy theories, in which he accused George Soros of flooding money into Texas to topple him.

Now just roughly six weeks removed from Election Day, Cruz is trying to hedge towards the center. In a new feature story, Politico outlines his sudden shift.

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When speaking with voters, Cruz talks about bipartisan legislation he’s championed to attract jobs to his home state. He also touts his support for IVF, obfuscating the impact of Texas’ near-total abortion ban.

Of course, Cruz’s partisan voting record contradicts his sunny words. He helped torpedo the bipartisan border bill, which was crafted by James Lankford, a deeply conservative senator from Oklahoma. “This bill was a terrible bill,” Cruz remarked.

Though the Biden Administration managed to pass two bipartisan bills through a deeply divided Congress–the CHIPS and Science Act and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act–Cruz voted “no” on both.

Then there’s his trip to Cancun. He jetted off to the Mexican resort destination while Texas faced a catastrophic winter storm that killed 246 people and left millions without power. (History appeared to repeat itself this past summer, with Cruz bracing for Hurricane Beryl’s landfall in… Southern California?)

But the biggest tell on Cruz is one his latest TV ads, which rails against transgender people. In it, an ominous-sounding narrator warns how women are being “left in the dust” and “robbed of their right to compete freely.”

“Colin Allred voted to allow boys in girl’s bathrooms. Boys in girl’s locker rooms. Boys in girl’s sports. That’s not competition. That’s not fair,” the ad says.

“I’m Ted Cruz, and I support this message,” Transphobic Ted says at the top.

Cruz, like many Republicans, couches his anti-trans message with platitudes about supporting women’s rights. But also like many Republicans, Cruz’s views on female autonomy seemingly don’t apply to reproductive choice.

The religious zealot praised the overturning of Roe, calling it “nothing short of a massive victory for life.”

Texas has since banned almost all abortions. One of Allred’s latest ads features women who were forced to lose their babies via miscarriage.

“If you’re experiencing pregnancy complications in Texas, you’re in danger. It’s that simple,” one of them says.

Yeah, sooo much freedom…

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