During the 1990s and 2000s, Republicans typically won statewide races in Texas by double digits. But Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) narrowly defeated Democrat Beto O’Rourke in the 2018 midterms, and in 2024, Cruz has been warning fellow Republicans not to underestimate the Democratic challenger he faces this year: Rep. Colin Allred, who trails Cruz by only 4 percent in an early September poll from The Hill and Emerson College. One issue that Cruz has aggressively campaigned on in the past is abortion. But journalist Joe Perticone, in an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on Sep…