Is it time’s up for Ted Cruz?

In the 18th episode of “Talk It OUT: LGBTQ Voices In A Queer Election Year,” we take a look at Texas, a Republican stronghold for decades.

But this year, Texas is worth watching because of the potential vulnerability of two-term Senator Ted Cruz, who is facing a spirited challenge from Dallas-area Democratic Congressman Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker and civil rights attorney.

Cruz breezed to his first Senate victory in 2012 with a 16-point margin over his Democratic opponent, but six years ago, Beto O’Rourke trimmed Cruz’s victory margin to just two and a half points.

Recent polling in the Cruz-Allred contest has ranged from giving Cruz a four-point advantage to showing Allred up by one.

It’s not just Democrats who see Allred as having a shot at toppling Cruz. 

Several weeks ago, Chris LaCivita, Donald Trump’s senior campaign adviser, took to X to lament, “What the hell is wrong with the Senate race in Texas?”

And since then, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has announced plans for a multi-million dollar spend in support of Allred. 

Despite its reputation as a deep red stronghold, Democrats have shown signs of growing strength in Texas in recent years. 

In 2012, Mitt Romney won a commanding 16-point edge over Barack Obama. Four years later, Trump bested Hillary Clinton there by nine percent, and Joe Biden narrowed that gap to five and a half points. 

Recent polling in the presidential contest in Texas has shown Trump up over Kamala Harris by roughly six points.

I speak to Johnathan Gooch, communication director at Equality Texas, that state’s LGBTQ rights group.

Equality Texas has faced tremendous odds in recent years against the Republican-controlled Executive and Legislative branches of state government in Austin, which have pursued increasingly hostile and radical anti-LGBTQ agendas — agendas out of step, however, with public opinion in the state. 

Equality Texas works with volunteers across the state and in partnership with allied groups such as Planned Parenthood and GLAAD to stave off some of the worst that the state GOP has tried to throw at them.

“Talk It OUT” is presented by Gay City News.

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Music courtesy of IMG via uppbeat.io.