Texas Dems Would Back Beto O’Rourke For Third Time: POLL

Former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke is the preferred candidate among Democratic voters in the state’s 2026 Senate race, according to recent polling — despite having lost three major races within a span of four years.

O’Rourke leads former Texas Democratic Rep. Colin Allred in a head-to-head matchup by 20 percentage points — 58% to 38% — with the remainder of voters undecided, according to a new Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University poll published Tuesday. The result is potentially troubling news for Allred’s campaign due to he and O’Rourke possessing near-universal name recognition among Democratic primary voters — with just 4% and 1% of respondents not knowing enough about either candidate to form an opinion.

Allred, who served three terms in the House from 2019 to 2025, was the Democratic nominee for Texas Senate in 2024, losing decisively to Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz  by 8.5 percentage points while blowing through more than $75 million. In July, he announced that he would make another run for the upper chamber to unseat Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who is working to fend off a bitter primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Despite Allred being the only candidate with political experience to enter the Democratic contest thus far, the two-time Senate hopeful trails O’Rourke among all major demographics of the party’s primary voters.