Ted Cruz Warns Republicans Would Lose House and Senate in “Bloodbath”

Sen. Ted Cruz has warned that Republicans would lose both the House and the Senate if early votes alone decided the midterms. “It would be a bloodbath,” the Texas Republican said. He called himself “deeply, deeply worried.”

Cruz spoke on his podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, in an episode released October 30. Co-host Ben Ferguson asked where the race stands. Election Day is Tuesday, November 3.

“Massive Democrat Turnout”

“What we’re seeing across the country is massive Democrat turnout,” Cruz said. “Democrats are showing up. They are energized. They hate, hate, hate Donald Trump.”

He then gave his warning. “If the election were over today, if just the early votes that have been cast so far were counted, Republicans would lose massively,” he said. “It would not be close. We would lose both the House and Senate. It would be a bloodbath.”

Cruz said reliable Republican voters are not turning out like reliable Democrats. He noted that Republicans usually vote later, on Election Day. Even so, he called the imbalance “really, really big.”

Texas on the Edge

Cruz said eight to ten Senate races are “basically tied.” On a good night, he said, Republicans could reach 54 or 55 seats. On a bad night, they could fall from 53 to 45.

“Texas is excruciatingly close,” Cruz said. He warned that Republicans “could lose every single statewide race in Texas.” In the state’s Senate race, Republican Ken Paxton faces Democrat James Talarico.

What the Early Vote Shows

More than 43 million Americans had voted early as of Thursday, BBC reported, citing University of Florida Election Lab data. In Texas, more than 6.3 million had voted by Wednesday. That is up from 4.2 million at the same point in 2022, AP reported.

In states that record party registration, 44% of early ballots came from Democrats and 31.2% from Republicans, BBC reported. Another 24.7% came from unaffiliated voters. Early ballots from registered Republicans were generally similar to 2022.

These figures are not results. Party registration shows who voted, not how they voted, and ballots are not counted until Election Day. Republicans have also tended to vote later.

Polls Point the Same Way

The RealClearPolitics average shows Democrats leading the generic ballot by 8.3 points. Sabato’s Crystal Ball says models based on that lead point to a Democratic House and a likely Democratic Senate. It also sees a realistic chance Democrats fall short of the Senate.

Cruz has framed the vote as a turnout fight before. In September, he told Politico the election “is going to come down to turnout.” Clash Report has reported that President Donald Trump will reportedly hold rallies in Kansas and Iowa on November 1. Separately, Democrats reportedly tried to split the Alaska Senate vote with a second Dan Sullivan.