The Senate race between incumbent Ted Cruz and Democrat Colin Allred is in the national spotlight.
This leaves the question, 'Is Texas turning purple'?
25 News talked to a political science professor at Baylor University who said to watch the Texas senate race.
"Texas is the second largest state population-wise," Political Science Professor Pat Flavin said. "It's drawing a lot of interest — democrats and republicans are giving to the candidates."
Usually, if the president goes Republican, so will the Senate seat.
So, the thing to watch is how much Cruz is underperforming compared to Trump.
Trump defeated Biden by six percentage points in Texas in 2020.
Greg Abbott won by over 10 percentage points, so there is still a republican lean in the state.
Flavin says, "If Trump only wins the state by three or four percentage points, could Allred peel off enough voters to make it a seriously close race? Or maybe we will not know the winner on election night."
It's becoming less common for voters to split their votes or vote Republican for one race and Democrat for another.
In 2016, there were zero states with split ballots, and in 2020, there was one, Maine.
That could change this year, and that's what Allred is betting on.
So this is another round of "Is Texas turning purple?"
"Having analyzed races for a decade in Texas, that seems to be the big question, and I'll be looking for final results," Flavin said. "Trump is the favorite in Texas, but if he wins by less than five percentage points, to me, yes, it's a line in the sand that indicates a point."
" Yes, Texas does seem to be trending slowly towards being a toss-up state going forward, but we'll have to see."
Early voting continues through November 1st, and election day is November 5th.
