Ted Cruz Says 'Texas Is Blue' After GOP Loses Every Statewide Race

Senator Ted Cruz said on Wednesday that "Texas is blue" after Republicans lost every statewide election in the state. He told listeners of his podcast that he is now the only statewide elected Republican who remains in Texas.

The Texas Republican, speaking on a special edition of Verdict with Ted Cruz the day after the midterms, called the national result "a blue tsunami".

"It was not simply a bad 2006 midterm election. It was a Watergate-level repudiation," Cruz said. A moment earlier he had put it more bluntly: "It was an ass-kicking."

He said Republicans had lost both the House and the Senate, and that "When all is said and done, we will have lost eight to 10 Senate seats."

Ted Cruz on Texas: 'A Hard Sentence to Utter'

Cruz said he had spent weeks warning on the show that Republicans could lose "everything in Texas," and that "far too few believe that was possible."

"Texas is blue. That is a hard sentence to utter. But Texas, today at least, is blue," he said. "As we sit here today, I am the only statewide elected Republican who remains in Texas. That's not something I ever thought I would say."

Democrat James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton for the Senate seat, and Gina Hinojosa unseated Governor Greg Abbott, KUT reported. Cruz said Republicans lost every statewide election in Texas.

"It was not simply a bad 2006 midterm election. It was a Watergate-level repudiation." — Ted Cruz

How the 2026 Texas Results Compare to 2022 and 2024

Republicans had carried the state's top races in the two previous cycles. Two years ago, preliminary returns compiled by the Texas Secretary of State's Office when Allred conceded showed Cruz leading Democrat Colin Allred 55.7% to 42.3%, KUT reported. In 2022, Abbott beat Beto O'Rourke by 12 points, 55% to 43%, CBS News reported.

This time, Abbott lost.

Cruz noted that "Texas has not had a Democrat governor since 1994. We haven't had a Democrat senator since 1993." Both points are broadly right. Ann Richards, the last Democratic governor, lost to George W. Bush in 1994 and left office in January 1995. Lloyd Bentsen resigned his Senate seat in January 1993 to become Treasury secretary, and his appointed Democratic successor, Bob Krueger, lost a special election that June. Talarico is the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate election since 1988, KUT reported.

Ted Cruz Blames Affordability, Tariffs and the Iran War

Cruz said the problem "wasn't turnout." Instead, he said, "our voters, Republicans, libertarians, independents, showed up and vote and rejected our candidates, voting Democrat instead." He put the blame on the cost of living and faulted his own party for not responding.

"Too many Republican politicians seem like they didn't understand or they didn't care," he said. "Tariffs have made everything too expensive. And the Iran war has dragged on too long."

PolitiKool's polling average puts President Donald Trump's approval on the economy at 29.7 percent, with 67.5 percent disapproving. His overall approval is 38.3 percent in PolitiKool's polling average. Those figures measure views of Trump's record; they do not establish what drove the results in any one race.

Cruz said the party lost blue-collar workers, evangelicals, rural voters, young people and Hispanics, the last of whom he said he carried by six points in 2024.

What Ted Cruz Says Comes Next

Cruz predicted Democrats in Austin and Washington "will overshoot" with tax increases, pressure on the energy industry and investigations of Trump. He said he would work with the senator-elect where he can.

"Last night, I called James Talarico. I congratulated him on his very impressive victory," Cruz said. He named flood relief for the Hill Country as one area where they could work together.

He ended with a promise that "Texas will be red again."