# data[].attributes.body
Texas allows for early voting in person, and early voting by mail for those who are out of the county at the time of election, sick or disabled, over 65 years of age, or confined to jail.

# data[].attributes.body
In Texas, any citizen 18 and over who has not been convicted of a felony, has not been declared mentally incapacitated by the court, and is a resident of a Texas country when applying may vote. Voters register at the Country Voter Registrar’s office, the Secretary of State’s office, libraries, or schools where registration drives are being held; it is required to have some form of personal identification for proof. A voter registration certificate is the proof of registration, and they are renewed every two years automatically.

# data[].attributes.body
Two of the most important issues for this election are immigration and gun control. Immigration is especially important in Texas because it is a border state,. Moreover, immigration is also an important national issue, especially with Trump pushing controversial rhetoric concerning illegal immigration, such as with the caravan situation. Gun control is also becoming another important national issue, due to the prevalence of major gun-crimes, such as the school shotting in Parkland, Floride. This issue hits close to home for Texas because there have been tragedies that occured there, like the SUtherland SPrings incident, and guns are a part of Texas culture. In terms of both of these issues, both candidates fall generally along their party lines.

# data[].attributes.body
1. “About Beto.” Beto for Senate, betofortexas.com/about/.

2. “About Neal.” Neal Dikeman for Senate, www.nealdikeman.com/about.

3. “Beto O'Rourke.” Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Beto_O%27Rourke.
4. "John Brennan endorses Beto O'Rourke in Texas Senate race." NBC News, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/midterms-2018-4-days-november-6-n930251.

5. “Meet Ted.” Ted Cruz for Senate, www.tedcruz.org/meet-ted/.

6. “Neal Dikeman.” Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Neal_Dikeman.

7. “Ted Cruz.” Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Ted_Cruz.
8. "Texas Population 2018." World Population Review, http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/texas-population/.
9. "Texas Redistricting." Texas Legislative Council, https://tlc.texas.gov/redist/districts/congress.html.
10. "Why is Texas voter turnout so low? Demographics play a big role." The Texas Tribune, https://www.texastribune.org/2018/02/23/texas-voter-turnout-electorate-explainer/.
11. “Could Libertarian Candidate Tip the Senate Race to Either Cruz or O'Rourke?” Dallas News, 1 Oct. 2018, www.dallasnews.com/news/2018-elections/2018/10/01/could-libertarian-candidate-tip-senate-race-either-cruz-orourke.

12. Epstein, Reid J. “Beto O'Rourke Draws Big Crowds in Texas. But His Voters Tend Not to Vote.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 5 Oct. 2018, www.wsj.com/articles/beto-orourke-draws-big-crowds-in-texas-but-his-voters-tend-not-to-vote-1538731801?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=10.

13. “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.

14. 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.

15. Re, Gregg. “State of the Midterms: Beto O'Rourke Seeks to Capitalize on Endorsements, as Governor's Races Shift Right.” Fox News, FOX News Network, www.foxnews.com/politics/state-of-the-midterms-beto-orourke-seeks-to-capitalize-on-endorsements-as-governors-races-shift-right.

16. “Rep. Beto O'Rourke - Campaign Finance Summary.” OpenSecrets, www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00033540.

17. Rice, Andrew. “Beto O'Rourke Is Not Afraid of the Border.” Intelligencer, 4 Nov. 2018, nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/11/beto-orourke-is-not-afraid-of-the-border.html.

18. Salama, Vivian, and Reid J. Epstein. “'Like. Dislike. Like': How Trump Changed His Tune on 'Lyin' Ted' Cruz.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 21 Oct. 2018, www.wsj.com/articles/trump-heads-to-texas-to-back-onetime-rival-ted-cruz-1540134050?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=3.

19. “Sen. Ted Cruz - Campaign Finance Summary.” OpenSecrets, www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00033085.

20. Stevens, Harry, and Stef W. Kight. “Beto O'Rourke on Axios.” Axios, 3 Nov. 1970, www.axios.com/tag/beto-orourke/.

21. Svitek, Patrick. “#AbolishICE? Texas Democrats Begin to Navigate Emerging Issue.” The Texas Tribune, Texas Tribune, 3 July 2018, www.texastribune.org/2018/07/02/texas-democrats-abolish-ice/.

22. Wallace, Jeremy. “Ted Cruz Seizes on Beto O'Rourke's Willingness to Consider Abolishing ICE.” Houston Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, 6 July 2018, www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Ted-Cruz-seizes-on-Beto-O-Rourke-s-13055048.php.

23. Weissert, Will. “Mass Shooting Anniversary Overshadowed in Texas Senate Race.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 2 Nov. 2018, abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/mass-shooting-anniversary-overshadowed-texas-senate-race-58927839.

24. Michael. “With Control of Congress at Stake, Trump Reprises a Favorite Theme: Fear Immigrants.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1 Nov. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/us/politics/trump-immigration.html.
25. NEGRETE, BILL BARROW and GLADYS. “30 Million Early Ballots Have Been Cast for Midterm Elections.” Time, Time, 3 Nov. 2018, time.com/5444063/voter-turnout-30-million-midterm-elections/.
26. “Party Platform.” Democrats, democrats.org/about/party-platform/.
27. “Republican National Committee.” GOP, gop.com/platform/.
28. “Texas Voting.” Texas Secretary of State, https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/pamphlets/largepamp.shtml.

# data[].attributes.body
Neal Dikeman is the Libertarian Party nominee. He says his motivation for running is so that current issues won't be handed down to his kids, who are 3 and 5, due to Congress's ineffectiveness. He is a venture capitalist who has been based in Silicon Valley and Houston, has started more than 9 startups, and is especially focused on clean tech and technology in energy.

# data[].attributes.body
He might be the tipping point between an O'Rourke win or a Cruz win. It is likely that he may take some of Cruz's vote, since the Libertarian ideal of small government overlaps with that of conservatives. However, Libertarian's also believe in liberalizing drug laws, like O'Rourke. Moreover, Dikeman has been pushing the ineffectiveness of the current government, meaning he could take some anti-Cruz votes. One way he has already impacted the race is that by challenging O'Rourke to a debate, he pressured Ted Cruz into a debate with O'Rourke. However, despite showing enthusiasm to participate, Dikeman has been excluded from all debates.

# data[].attributes.body
Margin of Error:  7 points
Sample Size: 800
Source: The New York Times
To conduct this poll, The New York Times called citizens of Texas to ask about their candidate preference in the midterms; the results show that Cruz has an 8 point lead. Since, the margin of error is 7 points, Cruz has a slight advantage, but it is still very close. The sample size of this poll is small, and the method may have been biased towards voters who don't work those specific hours, such as retirees. Additionally, this poll is from early October, meaning opinions may have been swayed leading up to the actual date of the election.

# data[].attributes.body
Representative Beto O'Rourke is the Democratic nominee for the Senate seat. He was elected to the House in 2012 as the Representative for the 16th Congressional District of Texas. His political positions can be described as liberal, and he has publicly opposed many decisions made by both Senator Cruz and President Trump.

# data[].attributes.body
O'Rourke supports regulation of the economy. He wants to demilitarize the immigration enforcement system and reform immigration laws to legalize the statuses of current residents of the US and create a better path to citizenship for the future. He doesn't have a strong postition on ICE, which Cruz has seized upon, claiming that O'Rourke wants to abolish it. O'Rourke wants to strengthen gun regulation. He also wants to improve the Affordavle Care Act and expand Medicaid.

# data[].attributes.body
The Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News endorse Representative O'Rourke, as well as former CIA director John Brennan. The Houston Chronicle endorsed Cruz in 2012.

# data[].attributes.body
Beto O'Rourke gets no PAC money. His top individual donor organizations are the University of Texas, Alphabet Inc, J Street, AT&T Inc, and the University of California. Another noteworthy fact is that he has raised $38.1 million in the 3 month Federal Election Commission reporting period that ended in September, which is the largest-ever quarterly mount raised by a Senate candidate.

# data[].attributes.body
Senator Ted Cruz is the current Republican incumbent for the seat. He was elected in 2012, and so is a relatively new Senator. He ran against Donald Trump for the presidency in 2016, but lost in the primary. His political positions are best described as conservative, and he has aligned with the President on many issues.

# data[].attributes.body
Ted Cruz wants to stop illegal immigration and supports ICE. He also wants to lower taxes and deregulate. He wants to repeal certain Obamacare mandates. He also supports the 2nd Amendment.

# data[].attributes.body
Donald Trump endorses Senator Cruz, which is significant because the two ran against each other for the 2016 presidential nomination. Ted Cruz did not endorse Trump in 2016 .

# data[].attributes.body
We believe Ted Cruz will win the election for the Texas Senate seat. Our first piece of evidence is the name recognition Ted Cruz has, as opposed to Beto O’Rourke. Although Ted Cruz has only been a senator of Texas for one six-year term, he still has an advantage as an incumbent. Additionally, he enjoys the widespread name recognition from his campaign for president and his incumbency as senator. The second piece of evidence we have is in Texas demographics. Ted Cruz has an advantage for the Senate seat because although O'Rourke has a large base of Latino voters to appeal to, they traditionally have a much lower turnout than white voters do, and many of them are not even at voting age. Additionally, older voters are more likely to vote than younger voters are, and older voters lean more conservative, giving Cruz an advantage. Even with all of this stacked in Cruz’s favor, O’Rourke might win. While Cruz is still favored to win the election, turnout for this year has been incredibly high. This means that people underrepresented in the polls, like young people and minorites, might turn out in large numbers to vote Democrat. However, with the numerous advantages Cruz still holds over O’Rourke, we predict that Ted Cruz will win a second term in the Texas Senate.

# data[].attributes.body
Ted Cruz has received significant donations from the Senate Conservatives Fund and Berkshire Hathaway, both of which donated $10000 in PAC money. He also received significant individual donations from the Senate Conservatives Fund, Woodforest Financial Group, NorPAC, Sullivan and Cromwell, and Berkshire Hathaway.