Senator Ted Cruz got some good news this week.

First, the latest poll shows that he is up by 11:

With less than five months before Election Day, incumbent Ted Cruz leads Democratic challenger Colin Allred by 11 percentage points in the state’s U.S. Senate race, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll.

Cruz, a Republican who is vying for a third term, was favored by 45% of the survey’s respondents compared to Allred’s 34%. Six percent of voters said they would prefer someone other than Cruz and Allred and 14% said they hadn’t thought about it enough to have an opinion.

Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project, said Allred, a three-term Dallas congressman, has “yet to make an impression on a lot of people.”

“Part of the upshot of that is having gone through such a relatively easy primary,” he added. “His lack of recognition at this point is in part a product of the success of his primary strategy which was to ignore his opponent. But the lack of newsworthy in a primary I think hurt him.”

Yes, it's true that Congressman Allred is not well known. It's up to the Cruz campaign to paint him "Pelosi" or run TV ads about Colin and Nancy.

By the way, Allred ran into an unexpected stop at CNN. He went there to talk about how he's distanced himself from President Biden on the border. He was reminded of saying this not long ago: "the congressman dismissed the issue as one playing out in the “right-wing echo chamber,” despite a sharp increase of migrants at the US-Mexico border at the time."

As Beto learned in 2022, what you say on the internet stays there forever.

The second bit of good news is about money:

Miriam Adelson, the billionaire casino tycoon and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, gave $1 million to a super PAC supporting Sen. Ted Cruz’s reelection, according to the group’s monthly finance report.

The donation was the largest single contribution in May to the Truth and Courage PAC, which is independent of Cruz’s official campaign. The group reported receiving over $176,000 from other sources last month, leaving it with over $1.6 million in the bank as of the end of May. The group has so far spent over $700,000 supporting Cruz’s reelection.

Adelson is a major donor in Republican politics, continuing the legacy of her late husband Sheldon Adelson, the founder of the Sands casino empire. Her profile in Texas political circles has only grown since her deal to purchase the Dallas Mavericks went public last year. She has supported efforts to legalize gambling in the state, spending generously to support pro-casino members of the Legislature and has also been a backer of pro-Israel candidates.

Adelson has previously given handsomely to Republican congressional efforts, routinely giving millions to super PACs associated with House and Senate Republican leadership. She has also been close to Gov. Greg Abbott, appearing on stage at his 2023 inauguration.

There you go. It's late June and Senator Cruz is well funded and positioned. What I hear is that the Cruz campaign is not taking Allred lightly. They are playing to win and borrowing a page from Governor Abbott's campaign, i.e. paint your opponent liberal over and over again.

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Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr