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Ted Cruz - Republican

American politician and attorney serving as the junior US senator from Texas since 2013

Was a Republican candidate for the the 2016 President election

The incumbent senator for Texas at the moment

Graduated from Princeton University and went to Harvard Law

Beto O’Rourke - Democrat

Previously on the El Paso City Council (2005-2011)

Part of the US House Texas 16th Congressional District

Worked for a Manhattan web tech company and co-founded Stanton Street Technology and he earned a BA from Columbia University

Running as a progressive

Neal Dikeman - Libertarian

Founded Jane Capital at 25 and co-founded 7 other technology start-ups

Venture capitalist at the parent company YellowPages.com and at Shell Oil

Was an active investor and the chairman of the Cleantech.org network and Greenhome.com

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The demographic makeup of the state of Texas show that most of the population is white and a large portion of the population has at least a high school education. The large portion of the population in poverty and the equal amount of people over the age of 65 means that many of those will vote Republican.

Texas
12.3% of the population lives in poverty
50.8% of the population is female
15.6% of the population is over the age of 65

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2016 -- 42.62%
2012 -- 41.85%
2008 -- 46.06%

The average turnout over the past few elections is around 43% but since these number are from years of presidential elections the turnout for a midterm election could be even smaller.

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To vote one must be an American citizen, a Texas resident, at least 18 years old, not convicted of a felony or if so, fully discharged of sentence or have been pardoned.

To register you must fill out the form and send/deliver it to the County Voter Registrar at least 30 days before election day in order to be eligible to vote.

Voters must have an acceptable photo ID with them when they go vote on election day.

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Trump won a large portion of the state of Texas and the state has also not voted democrat for the presidential election since Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976.

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Immigration

Ted Cruz

Very strong believer in preventing illegal immigration

Doesn’t want to give illegal immigrants the right to citizenship

Against amnesty and wants to punish those here illegally

Beto O’Rourke

Wants to pass DREAM to help those that were brought here as undocumented citizens find a permanent home and citizenship in the US

Wants to legalize the status of many immigrants and end the militarization of the immigration enforcement system

Gun Safety/Second Amendment

Ted Cruz

Wants to allow interstate firearm sales and wants to stop any legislation that would restrict Second Amendment Rights

Beto O’Rourke

Wants the require background checks and stop selling weapons of mass destruction

Support research on gun violence to better understand and address root causes

Jobs

Ted Cruz

Wants to repeal Obamacare and fought for Texas jobs by authoring the NASA Transition Authorization Act in March 2017

Fought against budget increases that failed to bring meaningful spending reforms

Opposed Internet Sales Tax and introduced the American Energy Renaissance Act to open up energy exploration

Beto O’Rourke

Wants to increase federal spending on infrastructure in order to create new construction and manufacturing jobs

Wants to protect the Earned Income Tax Credit and promote the Family and Medical Leave Act

Wants to invest in training, certification, and registered apprenticeship programs to keep pace with specialized professions

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Ted Cruz

Donald Trump

Beto O’Rourke

Dallas Morning News

Houston Chronicle

Former CIA director - John Brennan

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Beto O’Rourke

Total: $69,099,704

University of Texas - $365,312

Alphabet Inc. - $ 227,024

J Street - $139,734

Ted Cruz

Total: $40,118,702

Woodforest Financial Group - $107,951

Senate Conservatives Funds - $95,761

NorPAC - $66,050

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"Our Live Ad"

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"Completely Ridiculous"

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October 8-11, 2018
Sample Size: 800
MOE: +/-3.6
The data suggests that Cruz is leading by a high enough margin that even if all those that were undecided were to vote for O'Rourke he would still lose the election.

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October 2-5
Margin of Error of +/- 4.2
Sample Size of 881
The data suggests that though Cruz is leading if all those undecided decided to vote for O'Rourke then it would be an extremely close race and he might have a chance of winning the election.

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October 9-13
Margin of Error of +/- 4.5
Sample Size of 716
The data suggests that Cruz is leading by a wide margin and even the addition of the undecided voters to O'Rourke would still not win him the election.

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We believe Beto O'Rourke will win the Texas Senate election because the money from his interest groups was higher and he has better endorsers such as, Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle. Although it's shown in the polls that Cruz will win because his percentage is higher, O'Rourke isn't too far behind Cruz, so we believe that with O'Rourke's popularity from his campaigns and endorsers, that he'll win.

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Albertson, Bethany. “Race for the Senate 2018: Key Issues in Texas.” Brookings, Brookings, 2 Nov. 2018, www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2018/11/01/race-for-the-senate-2018-key-issues-in-texas/.

“Colin Allred | Issues | Education.” Colin Allred for Congress | TX-32 | U.S. House Candidate, www.colinallred.com/education.

“Colin Allred | Issues | Energy & Environment.” Colin Allred for Congress | TX-32 | U.S. House Candidate, www.colinallred.com/energyandenvironment.

“Colin Allred | Issues | Healthcare.” Colin Allred for Congress | TX-32 | U.S. House Candidate, www.colinallred.com/healthcare.

“Education & Special Education.” Congressman Pete Sessions, sessions.house.gov/issues/education-special-education.

“Environment/Conservation.” Congressman Pete Sessions, sessions.house.gov/issues/environmentconservation.

“Gun Safety.” Beto for Senate, betofortexas.com/issue/gun-safety/.

“Health Care & Disabilities.” Congressman Pete Sessions, sessions.house.gov/issues/health-care-disabilities.

Human Rights Campaign. “HRC Endorses Colin Allred for U.S. Congress.” Human Rights Campaign, www.hrc.org/blog/hrc-endorses-colin-allred-for-congress.

“Immigration.” Beto for Senate, betofortexas.com/issue/immigration/.

“Jobs and Opportunity.” Ted Cruz for Senate, www.tedcruz.org/proven-leader/jobs-and-opportunity/.

“Jobs.” Beto for Senate, betofortexas.com/issue/jobs/.

“LCV Action Fund Endorses Colin Allred for Congress.” League of Conservation Voters, origin.lcv.org/article/lcv-action-fund-endorses-colin-allred-congress/.

“Midterm Election Poll: Texas Senate, Cruz vs. O'Rourke.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Oct. 2018, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/upshot/elections-poll-txsen-2.html.

“Midterm Election Poll: Texas' 32nd District, Sessions vs. Allred.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Sept. 2018, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/upshot/elections-poll-tx32-1.html.

Montanaro, Domenico. “From 'Lyin' Ted' To 'Beautiful': How Trump And Cruz Found Political Love.” NPR, NPR, 23 Oct. 2018, www.npr.org/2018/10/22/659692611/from-lyin-ted-to-beautiful-how-trump-and-cruz-found-political-love.

Morin, Rebecca, et al. “Cruz Hammers Brennan for Endorsing Beto O'Rourke.” POLITICO, 2 Nov. 2018, www.politico.com/story/2018/11/02/cruz-brennan-endorses-orourke-956855.

“National Rifle Association Endorses Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions.” Dallas News, 20 Sept. 2018, www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2018/09/20/national-rifle-association-endorses-dallas-rep-pete-sessions.

“Obama's First Midterm Endorsements Include Democrat Colin Allred for Dallas Congressional Seat .” Dallas News, 1 Aug. 2018, www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2018/08/01/obama-backs-democrat-colin-allred-dallass-congressional-district-32-first-endorsements.

“Pete Sessions Has Soap Opera Moment after Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings Backs Colin Allred for Congress.” Dallas News, 24 Oct. 2018, www.dallasnews.com/news/2018-elections/2018/10/24/pete-sessions-soap-opera-moment-after-dallas-mayor-mike-rawlings-backs-colin-allred-congress.

“Rep. Pete Sessions - Texas District 32.” OpenSecrets, www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/contributors?cid=N00005681&cycle=2018.

“Second Amendment.” Ted Cruz for Senate, www.tedcruz.org/proven-leader/second-amendment/.

“Securing the Border.” Ted Cruz for Senate, www.tedcruz.org/proven-leader/securing-the-border/.

“Senate Races: GOP up in Texas, Tennessee; Dems up in Arizona, New Jersey - CBS News Poll.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 7 Oct. 2018, www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-races-gop-up-in-texas-tennessee-dems-up-in-arizona-new-jersey-cbs-news-poll/?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1.

Svitek, Patrick. “Trump Endorses Dallas Congressman Pete Sessions for Re-Election.” The Texas Tribune, Texas Tribune, 15 Sept. 2018, www.texastribune.org/2018/09/15/donald-trump-endorses-dallas-congressman-pete-sessions-re-election/.

“Ted Cruz.” Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Ted_Cruz.

“Texas Election Results 2016: President Live Map by County, Real-Time Voting Updates.” Election Hub, www.politico.com/2016-election/results/map/president/texas/.

“Texas Secretary of State.” Texas Voting, www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/largepamp.shtml.

“Texas Senate 2018 Race.” OpenSecrets, www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2018&id=TXS2&spec=N.

“Texas' 32nd Congressional District.” Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Texas%27_32nd_Congressional_District.

“Texas' 32nd Congressional District Election, 2018.” Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Texas%27_32nd_Congressional_District_election,_2018.

“United States Senate Election in Texas, 2018.” Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_election_in_Texas,_2018.

“United States Senate Elections in Texas, 2012.” Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_elections_in_Texas,_2012.

“U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Dallas County, Texas; Collin County, Texas; Texas; UNITED STATES.” Census Bureau QuickFacts, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/dallascountytexas,collincountytexas,tx,US/PST045217.

“U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: UNITED STATES.” Census Bureau QuickFacts, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045217.

“The Voter's Self Defense System.” Vote Smart, votesmart.org/candidate/288/pete-sessions#.W9xcIHpKhAY.

“We Recommend Beto O'Rourke for U.S. Senate.” Dallas News, 25 Oct. 2018, www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2018/10/25/recommend-beto-orourke-us-senate.

Wise, Justin. “Houston Chronicle Endorses Beto O'Rourke in Texas Senate Race.” TheHill, 19 Oct. 2018, thehill.com/homenews/campaign/412284-houston-chronicle-endorses-beto-orourke-in-texas-senate-race.