{"id":418441,"date":"2026-08-27T18:32:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T18:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418441\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T18:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T18:32:15","slug":"real-fight-cruz-says-texas-election-hinges-on-voter-turnout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/418441\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Real fight\u2019: Cruz says Texas election hinges on voter turnout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sen. Ted Cruz<\/a> says that Texas is in for a “real fight” when it comes to the upcoming general election<\/a> in the Lone Star State.<\/p>\n

A clip of Cruz and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/a> was shared on X on Aug. 26, where the two discussed the 2026 elections on Patrick’s Podcast. The clip appears to be from a longer conversation from an Aug. 19 podcast episode.<\/a><\/p>\n

“This election is a real fight,” Cruz said. “We could lose Texas. This is five alarm fire right now.”<\/p>\n

Cruz said that it is currently a “very challenging environment,” referring to voter turnout and getting people energized.<\/p>\n

“This year that (voter turnout) really, really matters,” Cruz said. Patrick responded that independent voters will be key.<\/p>\n

“That 10% will make a difference,” Patrick said. “If Democrats take Texas, everything we’ve worked for in this last 20 years….everything they (Democrats) will try to repeal.”<\/p>\n

In the full podcast shared on Patrick’s official YouTube channel,<\/a> Cruz also warned it could be a strong democratic year, not only in Texas but across the nation.<\/p>\n

“I hope not,” Cruz said. “We’ve got about 80 days to turn it around.”<\/p>\n

Just over two months out from Election Day, a new Texas poll found three notable results: the candidates remain statistically tied in the U.S. Senate race<\/a> while Republicans are pulling ahead in the governor’s race<\/a>, USA TODAY previously reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

The University of Texas\/Texas Politics Project<\/a> poll, published Aug. 25, finds 42% of Texas voters preferring Democrat state Rep. James Talarico<\/a> and 39% planning to vote for Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a> in the hotly contested U.S. Senate race in Texas.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott<\/a> leads his Democratic challenger, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa<\/a>, 45% to 40%.<\/p>\n

Natassia Paloma may be reached at npaloma@gannett.com<\/a>, @NatassiaPaloma on X, natassia_paloma on Instagram, and Natassia Paloma on Facebook.<\/p>\n

More: Talarico takes Spanish message statewide in Texas US Senate race<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Real fight’: Cruz says Texas election hinges on voter turnout<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sen. Ted Cruz says that Texas is in for a “real fight” when it comes to the upcoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418442,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1864,7883,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-418441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-dan-patrick","tag-ted-cruz","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}