Morgan Lewis Lawyer Cruz Wins Texas Senate Primary

Veteran U.S. Supreme Court advocate and Tea Party darling Ted Cruz is one step away from joining the U.S. Senate after winning an upset victory in the Texas Republican primary on Tuesday.

Cruz, the head of the U.S. Supreme Court and appellate litigation practice at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius since 2008, edged out Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst with 56.8 percent of the vote. Dewhurst, who had the backing of Texas Governor Rick Perry, received 43.2 percent. He will face Democratic lawyer Paul Sadler in the November general election.

"Thank you to each & every one of you who made this possible," Cruz tweeted after he secured the Republican nomination to succeed Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R). "Let's lead the fight to defend liberty."

A former clerk to the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Cruz has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court nine times. Of those arguments, eight occurred when he was solicitor general of Texas from 2003 to 2008.

Cruz also has written for Legal Times as a guest columnist.

Comments

[Avon]

It sounds closer if you say it differently: If only ONE out of every 15 voters had chosen Dewhurst instead of voting for Cruz, Dewhurst and not Cruz would've won.

I've been peeved in the past at how a 57%-43% victory has been called a "landslide" ... that is, I was, when I preferred the loser!
Yet Wikipedia says no president has won as much as 60% of the popular vote since 40 years ago, and none has ever polled as high as 62%. (Before 1824, the public didn't vote.)

I think the news proves that just about anyplace, or any electorate, can be "swing." America is a very conflicted place.

[Toriigate]

A 13.6 percent loss is more than being "edged out." Give Cruz credit for a decisive win.