TEXAS - Election Day is here, and there’s been a great deal of talk of a blue wave in Texas and across the country. If that blue wave were to take hold in historically red Texas, it could serve as a barometer for the entire midterm election.

  • Spectrum News is dedicated to helping you stay informed. This Election Day, we've opened our live stream so you can access our in-depth coverage. Click here to view: http://specne.ws/qQRv6z
  • Spectrum News’s 2018 Voter Guide is available here.
  • Go vote!

While there are a number of key midterm races in our state, all eyes are on the Senate race between incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Rep. Beto O’Rourke. In fact, the two are among the most searched-for political candidates online.  

Cruz is counting on a reliably red Texas to keep him in his Senate seat. O’Rourke, a little-known representative from El Paso just a year ago, has run a largely grassroots campaign that has garnered him support even in some of Texas’s more conservative regions.

Depending on the poll, O’Rourke is either trailing Cruz going into Election Day by five or six points or the two are in a statistical dead heat. In any case, no one could have predicted the contest would be so close one year ago.

Even if Cruz emerges victorious, political analysts have speculated that O’Rourke’s performance leading up to Election Day could catapult him to national prominence. Talk of a 2020 presidential run has been bandied about, but O’Rourke has indicated a run for the nation’s highest office is not on his radar.

Also being closely watched in Texas is the race for governor. Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott was elected in 2014. Texas’s former attorney general is the Republican nominee and has been polling well ahead of his Democratic rival, former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez.

Abbott is pro-life and favors open carry gun laws. Valdez has focused her campaign on a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and champions LGBTQ rights.

Texans will additionally vote on the office of lieutenant governor, attorney general, commissioner of general land, Texas Supreme Court justice seats and all of Texas’s 36 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In addition, Texans will vote on a number of local measures.