Cruz downs Dewhurst in bruising race

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Insurgent Ted Cruz vaulted to an early lead and was heading toward victory over Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the GOP runoff Tuesday for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison.

The victory in one of the most watched U.S. Senate contests in the nation makes the former Texas solicitor general the heavy favorite heading to the November election against an under-funded Democrat.

"This was a victory for the grassroots," Cruz said at his victory celebration in Houston.

Locally, physician Donna Campbell was on her way to a rout over incumbent state Sen. Jeff Wentworth in the GOP runoff in the district that stretches from Travis County to San Antonio. And former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams was cruising toward victory in the GOP runoff for a Central Texas congressional district.

On the Democratic side, former state Rep. Paul Sadler was on his way to winning the runoff for U.S. Senate for the right to take on the winner of the GOP contest. The Associated Press declared Sadler the winner about an hour after the polls had closed,

Early returns in the closely watched and very expensive Republican runoff for the U.S. Senate, Cruz rolled up  margins in large suburban counties. In the Dallas suburb of Collin County, the early vote margin was 60-40 for Cruz. In Montgomery and Fort Bend counties near Houston, the margins were even larger.

Dewhurst, who spent several million dollars of his own money on the campaign and was backed by Gov. Rick Perry, ran better but still behind in urban Dallas and Bexar counties. He and Cruz were in a dead heat in Travis County, early results showed.

The big upset locally was in the state Senate district that Wentworth has represented for 20 years. Even on his home turf of Bexar County, the incumbent was being trounced. The margin was 67-33 in Campbell's favor in Travis County.

Campbell will face Democrat John Courage in November.

In two races for the seats on the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, Republicans Barry Smitherman and Christi Craddick won the Republican nominations. In the GOP runoff for a place on the Texas Supreme Court, lawyer John Devine defeated Justice David Medina.

Hutchinson and soon-to-be Texas' senior U.S. Sen. John Cornyn were quick to congratulate Cruz on his victory.

"This has been a hard-fought and spirited primary battle and the people of Texas would have been fortunate to have any one of these well-qualified candidates as their next U.S. senator," Cornyn said. "But I could not be more pleased with the nomination of Ted Cruz and I offer my warmest congratulations to Ted, his wife Heidi and their two daughters. He and his team ran a remarkable race and this is a well-deserved and well-earned victory."

Said Hutchison, who held the Senate seat since 1993: “In the coming months, I will do everything I can to support the election of Ted Cruz to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate and be available to him for any questions that will prepare him for the issues he will face."

On the Democratic side, Texas Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said he was excited about the coming November matchup.

"Paul Sadler cares about Texans," Hinojosa said. "He’s got a proven track record of working to improve the lives of Texas children. While Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst were busy trying to out-rightwing each other, Sadler was talking about the issues that matter to middle class Texas. We’ve got a real race on our hands."

The U.S. Senate GOP race was played out on the national stage, highlighting a rift between the party establishment and the tea party. 

Even though Dewhurst had the lead after May's primary, it was too close to call Tuesday as polls neared closing. The biggest challenge had been getting people to the polls in the dead of summer. Legal battles of redistricting maps pushed the primary from Super Tuesday to May, making for an even later runoff.

Cruz, who got a late-campaign boost when 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin stumped for him in Texas, spent the final day urging conservatives in Houston to vote to change what they see as Washington politics

“It has been an incredible journey,” Cruz told a crowd at one of his stops. “We started out in single digits 18 months ago, and we have spent 18 hours a day crisscrossing the state of Texas.”

Early voting – which ended Friday – had better results than expected. About 3.3 percent of registered Republicans cast ballots.

Dewhurst in his concession speech said he got beat up a little bit, "but we never gave up."